Economy

Minimum Wage Hikes on Tap for 25 State and Local Goverments

Paul Ausick

Published: December 22, 2016 11:40 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 4:29 pm

In 2016, a total of seven states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Maine, New York, Oregon and Washington — approved raising the state’s minimum wage to between $12 and $15 an hour. Another 18 cities and counties approved raising the minimum in a range of $10.10 to $15 an hour. A total of 19 states and localities have raised their minimum wage to $15 an hour.

On New Year’s Eve, the minimum wage in New York City will rise to $11, on its way to $15 by 2018, for businesses with more than 11 employees. In most of the state the minimum will increase to $9.70 on its way to $12.50 by 2020. In the other 18 states and cities, increases take effect on New Year’s Day.

In the four states that approved minimum wage hikes in the November elections — Arizona, Colorado, Maine and Washington — the wage increases will benefit some 2.1 million workers. All told, since 2012, nearly 19 million U.S. workers have gotten raises based on hikes in the minimum wage, according to the National Employment Law Project (NELP).

Over the next two years, campaigns to raise the minimum wage will launch in eight states — New Jersey, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania — and four more localities — Minneapolis; Baltimore; Montgomery County, Maryland; and Santa Clara, California. Workers in Washington, D.C., will launch a “One Fair Wage” ballot campaign that would gradually eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers.

If all these campaigns are successful, another 8 million workers will see larger paychecks.