The Teens Fighting For $15 An Hour: As many states raise their minimum wage, young people are trying to ensure they don't get left out.

• Author: Grise, Chrisanne

Ashley Delva spent much of her teenage years working minimum wage jobs, including 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. The minimum wage in Massachusetts, her home state, 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 Delva's story--and the stories of others in similar situations--is 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, while New Mexico voted to raise its minimum to $12 an hour. That's in addition to 21 states and the District of Columbia that had wage rate increases already planned for this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

But as legislation to raise the minimum wage is drafted around the country, some lawmakers are arguing that teens should be paid less than adults. Angered at being left behind, young people have started banding together to fight for equal pay--and 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 (about $3.81 today, after adjusting for inflation). Since then, Congress has raised it 22 times, though it has remained at $7.25 since 2009 (see "Time for a Raise?" p. 14). The House of Representatives recently passed a bill that would bump the minimum wage up to $15, but the Senate has no plans to vote on it. About half the states, however, have set higher minimum wages that supersede the federally mandated amount.

Unlivable Wages

Many workers have grown frustrated by stagnant minimum wage rates, which they say aren't enough to live on. In 2012, the Fight for $15 movement was born when 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," p. 15).

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. When patients have more money in their pockets, she says, they exercise more, eat healthier, and get better sleep, and their mental health Teen activists in New Jersey pushed 3 for the same minimum wage as adults. improves dramatically. "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, forcing them 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."

Teens 'Carved Out'

Despite the concerns from business owners, new minimum wage legislation is increasingly popping up around the country. However, many teens are displeased to see themselves "carved out," or excluded from the plans. In New Jersey, for example, an early version of the bill to raise the minimum wage delayed workers under 18 getting $15 an hour until 2029, 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 raised awareness in their communities by posting on social media, marching, canvassing, making videos, and meeting with legislators. It ultimately paid off; in February, Governor Phil Murphy signed the $15 minimum wage into...