Nearly two dozen states are scheduled to raise minimum wages for millions of employees in the new year.
Nearly two dozen states are scheduled to raise minimum wages for millions of employees in the New Year.
The Federal Government Raises the Minimum Wage
President Joe Biden and several radical Democrats have previously called for a $15 minimum wage in the United States. Biden upped the minimum salary for federal contractors to $15 per hour by issuing an executive order, the minimum wage has been raised to $11.25 per hour (86 FR 51683) in April. At the end of January, the hike will take effect.
Last February, however, efforts to enact a countrywide federal increase were thwarted when the Senate parliamentarian ruled against including a minimum wage hike in the Covid-19 relief package. Following the Senate parliamentarian’s verdict, independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont proposed an amendment in March to attempt to have the minimum wage rise included. Even though the amendment’s prospects of success were already poor due to the Senate’s tight split, eight Democrats voted against it. Moreover, one of the Democrats who voted against the proposal was West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin.
Furthermore, Biden insisted the $15 minimum wage will be a big help for people out of poverty. “A $15 minimum wage would lift, on the net, nearly 1.3 million individuals out of poverty,” according to the Congressional Budget Office in 2019. Some private companies have taken it upon themselves to increase their minimum wages. In September, Walmart raised its minimum wage to $12 per hour and Amazon hiked its average starting rate to $18.
21 States To Increase Minimum Wage
In the U.S, 21 States begins to raise the minimum wages, the hikes are part of a plan in New York and seven other states to boost minimum wages to $15 in the coming years. According to research from payroll specialists at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory US, a firm that offers financial, compliance, and regulatory information, the additional states are California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
Other state-mandated wage increases, places like Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington are due to automatic cost-of-living adjustments based on inflation, and other state-mandated wage increases are due to previously approved legislation or ballot initiatives.
