New minimum wage increases took effect on Monday in 22 states, boosting wages for an estimated 10 million workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The pay increases have also been adopted by 43 cities and localities and are slated to increase employee wages by a combined $7 billion per year, according to estimates from the EPI and other groups.
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At least three of the states — New York, California, and Washington — increased their pay floor to at least $16 per hour. Meanwhile, more than 45 states and jurisdictions increased their minimum wage to at least $15 per hour, according to the National Employment Law Project, amounting to the biggest victory for low-wage workers in decades.
Which states are affected?
The 22 states that increased their minimum wage effective Jan. 1 are California, which increased hourly pay to $16 per hour; Washington state, to $16.28; Alaska, to $11.73; Hawaii, to $14; Montana, to $10.30; Arizona, to $14.35; Colorado, to $14.42; South Dakota, to $11.20; Nebraska, to $12; Minnesota, to $10.85; Missouri, to $12.30; Michigan, to $10.33; Illinois, to $14; Ohio, to $10.45; New York, to $15; New Jersey, to $15.13; Vermont, to $13.67; Maine, to $14.15; Connecticut, to $15.69; Rhode Island, to $14; Delaware, to $13.45; and Maryland, to $15.
Why the increase?
The changes come as employees nationwide have struggled to adjust to higher costs due to inflation, which cooled slightly in the latter half of 2023 after rising to a 40-year high in 2022. Consumer prices have also steadily increased since 2020.
Meanwhile, the federal minimum wage has remained unchanged at $7.25 per hour since 2009, prompting new affordability complaints from millions of workers.
Proponents of a higher minimum wage have argued the federal minimum wage is far below the required amount for employees to meet the “self-sufficiency standard,” or the estimated income required for a family to meet its basic needs. More than 20 states continue to abide by the federal minimum wage.
Still, the 2024 increases are a major victory for low-wage workers.
They also help address inflation and rising consumer costs: Of the 22 states that boosted their minimum wages on Jan. 1, 12 states approved plans that will automatically adjust worker pay for inflation each year.
Who’s affected?
The minimum wage increases are slated to disproportionately benefit women, who make up more than 57% of employees receiving an increase in pay, as well as black workers, who make up 9% of the wage-earning workforce, and Hispanic workers, who make up 19% of the affected employees, according to a blog post from the EPI late last month.
Almost 1 in 5 workers who will receive a pay boost have incomes below the poverty level, while roughly half of workers, 47%, have incomes below twice the poverty line. More than 25% of workers affected are parents.
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Despite the progress, however, advocates are pushing for more to be done.
“Despite continued progress by many states across the country to increase their wage floors, there are still 17.6 million workers earning less than $15 an hour,” an assistant EPI researcher, Sebastian Martinez Hickey, said in the blog post.
