The Teens Fighting for $15 an Hour

Ashley Delva spent much of her teenage years working minimum wage jobs. That included working as a restaurant hostess and retail store cashier. Her dad was unable to work after a stroke, so her earnings helped support her family.

Still, the money she earned simply wasn’t enough. She lived in Massachusetts. The minimum wage there was $8 to $11 an hour, depending on the year. That amount didn’t go far in the city of Boston. There were times she struggled to pay her phone bill or couldn’t afford food or hygiene products. And to go to college, she had to take out large loans.

Now, stories like Delva’s are helping to fuel a movement to raise the minimum wage. So far in 2019, four states (New Jersey, Illinois, Maryland, and Connecticut) have passed laws increasing it to $15 an hour. New Mexico voted to raise its minimum to $12 an hour. And 21 states and the District of Columbia already had wage rate increases planned for this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Legislation to raise the minimum wage continues to be drafted around the country. But some lawmakers are arguing that teens should be paid less than adults. That’s angered young people who feel like they’re being left behind. They’ve started banding together to fight for equal pay. In some cases, they’re winning.

“There are some young adolescents who are fully supporting themselves,” Delva, now 22, says. “Age isn’t a determination of someone’s capabilities and skills. We really wanted to fight against that.”

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established the first federal minimum wage at 25 cents an hour. That’s about $3.81 today, after adjusting for inflation. Since then, Congress has raised it 22 times. It’s remained at $7.25 since 2009 (see “Time for a Raise?” below). The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would bump the minimum wage up to $15. However, the Senate has no plans to vote on it. But about half the states have set minimum wages that are higher than the federally mandated amount.

Many workers have grown frustrated by stagnant minimum wage rates. They say their earnings aren’t enough to live on. The Fight for $15 movement was born in 2012. That year, fast-food workers in New York City began demanding higher pay. Their protests soon spread to other states. In 2016, California became the first state to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Massachusetts, New York, and Washington, D.C., soon followed. With the addition of four more states this year, more than 30 percent of U.S. workers now live in states that are raising minimum wages to $15 an hour, according to the National Employment Law Project (see “What Each State Pays,” below).

Supporters of raising the minimum wage say it will have a dramatic impact on people’s lives.

“When the minimum wage goes up, I see it,” says Margot Kushel, who directs the University of California, San Francisco, Center for Vulnerable Populations, which is based in a local hospital. She’s seen what happens when patients have more money in their pockets. They exercise more, eat healthier, and get better sleep, and their mental health improves dramatically, she says. “We will spend an incredible amount on a new heart drug,” she adds. “But if we increased wages by $1, we’d save more lives.”

But others argue that a higher minimum wage is too costly for some companies. That high cost would force these companies to raise prices or lay off employees.

“Most small-business owners pay what they can afford for their workers,” says Michele N. Siekerka, chief executive of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association. When higher wages are mandated, she says, “it is inevitable that some of those with the smallest of profit margins will struggle, stagnate, or simply fail.”

Despite the concerns from business owners, new minimum wage legislation is increasingly popping up around the country. But many teens are displeased to see themselves “carved out,” or excluded from the plans. For example, an early version of a bill to raise the minimum wage in New Jersey delayed workers under 18 from getting $15 an hour until 2029. That’s five years after adults would see their earnings go up.

“It was really a slap in the face,” says Giovana Castaneda, 18, one of the activists who fought for equal pay.

“Our work is just as important as the people that we work alongside with,” adds Matthew Skolar, 17, who also pushed for a revision to the bill. “We should be valued just the same.”

Castaneda and Skolar were two of the young people working with an organization called Make the Road New Jersey to ensure that teens were included in the legislation. They helped raise awareness in their communities. They posted on social media, marched, canvassed, made videos, and met with legislators. It paid off in the end. In February, Governor Phil Murphy signed the $15 minimum wage into law. The final version didn’t carve out teens.

In Massachusetts, lobbyists tried to negotiate a lower minimum wage for those under 18. But teens in the state like Ashley Delva were crucial advocates for their own interests. They spoke with voters and visited fast-food restaurants to encourage workers to join the movement to raise wages. In the end, the law granted teens a $15 minimum wage.

For many young people, a higher minimum wage can make a huge difference to their quality of life. Gennesy Jimenez, 18, is another one of the New Jersey activists. She used to work more than 40 hours a week at a shoe store for minimum wage, while also going to school. She had to put in long hours to make enough money. She often didn’t get home until midnight. Then she had to start her homework.

“Sometimes I’d have no other choice but not to sleep,” she says. “Getting paid the minimum wage is terrible because it’s promoting bad, unhealthy working habits.”

But some experts say that if inexperienced teens are paid the same as adults, young people may wind up losing jobs.

“When the minimum wage goes up, if employers can’t pass that cost off to customers through higher prices, they have to find another way to adapt to it,” says Michael Saltsman, managing director of the Employment Policies Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.

As an example, he points to self-checkouts at stores and restaurants that let customers order their meals on tablets. More businesses have added those devices, he says, and  they’ve eliminated entry-level jobs that used to be filled by teens.

“Technology today makes it all the more easy for employers to provide that same customer experience without a young person behind it,” he says.

That may in part be why some states that increased minimum wage rates have excluded or made adjustments for teens. In Illinois, for example, the hourly wages of those under 18 will increase to $13 rather than $15. And in Maryland, employers can pay teens 85 percent of the minimum wage.

So far, research on the subject has been mixed. Several studies have found that raising the minimum wage can lead to job losses for young people; one from the National Bureau of Economic Research outlined a 2 percent decline in teen employment for every 10 percent increase of the minimum wage.

“When the minimum wage goes up, if employers can’t pass that cost off to customers through higher prices, they have to find another way to adapt to it,” says Michael Saltsman, managing director of the Employment Policies Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.

As an example, he points to self-checkouts at stores and restaurants that let customers order their meals on tablets. More businesses have added those devices, he says, and they’ve eliminated entry-level jobs that used to be filled by teens.

“Technology today makes it all the more easy for employers to provide that same customer experience without a young person behind it,” he says.

That may be part of why some states that increased minimum wage rates have excluded or made adjustments for teens. In Illinois, for example, the hourly wages of those under 18 will increase to $13 rather than $15. And in Maryland, employers can pay teens 85 percent of the minimum wage.

So far, research on the subject has been mixed. Several studies have found that raising the minimum wage can lead to job losses for young people.  One from the National Bureau of Economic Research outlined a 2 percent decline in teen employment for every 10 percent increase of the minimum wage.

But other research has contradicted those findings. In 2017, the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center researched the impacts of minimum wage increases. The state’s minimum wage was $11 an hour at the time. The study found that the increase hadn’t caused a drop in teen employment. In fact, the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds was at its lowest level since 1999, when the minimum wage was $5.25.

By the time the $15 minimum wage goes into effect in Massachusetts (in 2023) and New Jersey (2024), the young advocates who pushed back against teen carve-outs will all be over 18. But they say they joined the fight to help others.

Jeysaun Gant, 19, of Massachusetts, says he was thinking about his younger sisters, who are 15 and 5 years old.

“It’s for them,” he says. “It’s for my little cousins, for kids who are in school now who are going to need jobs when they get older. It’s for people who are after us, and it’s not fair that we tried to cheat our kids out of that.”

Many of the advocates also say they hope that their work will inspire others to make a difference in their communities, one way or another.

“I want everyone to realize that they have the right to go to the statehouse and demand a meeting with their elected officials on an issue that they’re passionate about,” Delva says. “I don’t want anyone to ever feel like they’re too young or like this is not their place, because at the end of the day, they will be future voters and these legislators will need them and their votes.”

The $15 minimum wage goes into effect in Massachusetts in 2023 and New Jersey in 2024. By that time, the young advocates who pushed back against teen carve-outs will all be over 18. But they say they joined the fight to help others.

Jeysaun Gant, 19, of Massachusetts, says he was thinking about his younger sisters, who are 15 and 5 years old.

“It’s for them,” he says. “It’s for my little cousins, for kids who are in school now who are going to need jobs when they get older. It’s for people who are after us, and it’s not fair that we tried to cheat our kids out of that.”

Many of the advocates also say they hope that their work will inspire others to make a difference in their communities, one way or another.

“I want everyone to realize that they have the right to go to the statehouse and demand a meeting with their elected officials on an issue that they’re passionate about,” Delva says. “I don’t want anyone to ever feel like they’re too young or like this is not their place, because at the end of the day, they will be future voters and these legislators will need them and their votes.”

With reporting by Nick Corasaniti and Matthew Desmond of The Times.