Months later, minimum wage increase hasn’t helped all

Since the minimum wage increased last spring, tipped employees have found that while others are making more money, their wages remain largely unchanged. Seth Stridel, a server at Pizza Hut near College Mall, said he’s still making the same amount.\nThe federal minimum wage increased this July, requiring businesses to pay employees $5.85 an hour, a 70 cent increase from previous years. The pay increase will continue for the next two years, first rising to $6.55 in 2008 and then to $7.25 in 2009.\nTipped employees, such as servers, make $2.13 an hour plus tips. However, if the hourly wage plus tips doesn’t equal $5.85, employers must pay the difference. \nSusan Stein, supervisor of the Bloomington WorkOne center for the Department of Workforce Development, said the increase in money to the public could potentially increase the number of restaurant patrons.\nHowever, while no harm to businesses has been reported, fear still \nremains that the next two increases could cause financial problems, especially to small businesses. \nThe more money college students make, it seems the more they will spend, business owners said. Kilroy’s on Kirkwood bartender Josh Luft said since the wage increase in July more customers are coming in.\nBut Johanna Klees, a server at Kilroy’s on Kirkwood, said the rise in business could be due to anything from football season to the start of the semester.\nMore than 1.8 million people work on an hourly basis in Indiana,, 37,000 of which are tipped employees, said Joe DiLaura, press secretary of Indiana Department of Workforce Development.\nThe wage increase is too much and will cause a monetary loss for some restaurants that don’t want to raise their menu prices, Puccini’s La Dolce Vita manager Robert Johnson said.\n“We’ll just have to eat it,” Johnson said. “There’s not other way to it.”\nNot all businesses will absorb the costs though. Paul Miller, manager of the Pizza Hut near College Mall, said a loss in profit due to wages could and probably will cause a price increase. \nWhile businesses worry, minimum wage employees said the increase was long overdue.\n“I think it’s good because people live below the poverty line making minimum wage,” Laura Muzi, a server at Puccini’s, said. “It’s also more of an incentive to work if you’re making more money.”\nFor now, tipped employees must rely on their charm and more customers to make money, leaving their paychecks to cover taxes. \n“It’s all about your smile,” Stridel said.\nDiLaura thinks that the people making more money will mean more money spent in restaurants and other businesses, evening out the economic change.\n“Usually the economy is able to adjust to those wage adjustments,” DiLaura said.