Twenty-seven states rang in the new year with increases or planned increases to their minimum wage rate. Most took effect Jan. 1, but others will become effective later in the year.
The minimum wage will reach or exceed $15 an hour in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Washington and parts of New York.
Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York and Virginia are raising their minimum wage by at least $1 per hour. Workers in Alaska, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Washington also will see a boost in their paychecks.
Five states — Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee — have not adopted a state minimum wage. Georgia and Wyoming have an hourly minimum wage below $7.25. Federal minimum wage law supersedes state minimum wage laws in places where the federal rate is higher than the state rate.
The hourly federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009. For a 40-hour work week, that translates to $15,000 per year, which is below the federal poverty line for a two-person household.
“If we factor in inflation, it would have had to grow to $10.20 to let people buy the same amount of goods and services today [as they did in 2009]. In real terms, the current minimum wage has shrunk by almost 30% since it was set,” Motley Fool reported.
By executive order, the hourly minimum wage for federal contractors is $15.
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