It would seem inevitable that Connecticut will see an increase in its minimum wage passed this year by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Ned Lamont. The challenge then is finding the best approach that benefits workers on the lowest rung of the employment compensation ladder without being so burdensome to business that it is counterproductive.

In the 2018 state elections, Lamont and most every Democrat running for the state legislature said raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 would be a priority. It was a major plank in the Democratic Party platform. Voters proceeded to elect Lamont as their governor and enlarged Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

That provided a mandate to boost the minimum wage.

In increasing the minimum wage, the legislature should adopt a gradual phase-in over several years, giving businesses more time to adjust. The minimum hourly wage should allow exceptions for temporary, seasonal workers and continue a lower training wage. And going forward, once the $15 minimum is reached, it should be tied to the consumer price index, avoiding having these political fights every few years.

A bill backed by the governor comes closest to meeting these goals. Starting with a boost from the current minimum of $10.10 to $11.25 in January, the Lamont-backed bill would then increase the minimum in several steps, reaching $15 in 2023.

An alternative proposal would make a bigger jump to $12 in January, reaching $15 in 2022.

The slower approach is preferable. Adding another year that delays the $15 minimum to 2024 would be more business friendly, but that appears unlikely given the politics.

Also to like in the governor-backed proposal is a provision allowing those under age 18 to be make $8.60 per hour or 75 percent of the minimum wage, whichever is greater, for the first 90 days of employment. This would allow the affordable hiring of young people for seasonal jobs. Such jobs are a good entryway into the workforce for teens.

A few years ago a trend setter in the area when it came to the minimum wage, Connecticut now lags its neighbors. Massachusetts, for example, is undergoing a gradual increase to $15 in 2023.

According to statistics gathered by the AFL-CIO, your typical minimum wage worker is not a young adult looking to make a few extra bucks, but instead an adult whose income is a means of primary or secondary financial support for a household. The average age of a minimum wage worker is 36, and nine in 10 are over the age of 20.

But while an increase makes sense to lift people out of poverty and introduce consumer buying power into the state economy, the adverse impact on businesses, particularly smaller businesses, should not be discounted. A higher minimum wage will increase the cost of private child daycare and pre-school education programs, for example, and also the cost of home health care. These services are a priorities for Democrats.

And businesses will see the need to boost salaries for other employees to keep up with the wage hikes provided those on the lower-pay spectrum. David Cooper, a senior analyst with the Economic Policy Institute, testified to the legislature that 500,000 workers in the state would be directly or indirectly affected as a result of a mandated minimum pay hike.

As for fears that a boost in the minimum wage will accelerate the use of robots to replace workers in low-skill jobs, that appears to be a bit of a red herring. Businesses will automate where it makes sense, regardless of minimum wage. How our society deals with this increased automation in the workplace will be a major policy challenge in the years to come. But keeping human wages as low as possible to make people a better bargain than robots is not a sound strategy.

Boost the minimum wage, but gradually. 

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.