Thread: Minimum wage hikes: 18 states, 20 cities to lift pay floors Jan. 1

Minimum wage hikes: 18 states, 20 cities to lift pay floors Jan. 1

Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
Published 7:00 a.m. ET Dec. 19, 2017 | Updated 10:36 a.m. ET Dec. 20, 2017

With a minimum wage increase set to take effect in various states and cities across the country next year, expect the movement to gain even more steam. USA TODAY


(Photo: Ross D. Franklin, AP)

The movement to lift earnings of low-paid workers will gather force in 2018, with a growing number of states and cities raising their minimum wages as high as $15 an hour.

Proponents say the initiatives can help narrow a widening income gap between the wealthy and poor. Business advocates say they’re already leading to restaurant closings and layoffs.

On or about Jan. 1, 18 states and 20 cities, including many in California, will hike their base pay because of laws or ballot initiatives that mandate gradual raises over several years or automatic cost-of-living increases. Later in the year, another three states and 18 cities and counties will boost their pay floors, according to the National Employment Law Project, a worker advocacy group.

Twelve of the states and many cities are set for relatively large increases as part of a multiyear phase-in, while nine states are rolling out smaller cost-of-living bumps.

The pay hikes have been linked, at least in part, to nationwide fast-food worker demonstrations and demands for a $15 wage since 2012. Those pleas were initially deemed far-fetched. But now California, New York and more than a dozen cities are moving toward that standard by 2022 in a wave that will cover one in five U.S. workers.

For example, the pay floor is set to rise from $9 to $10 in Maine and from $11 to $13 for large employers in New York City. In Florida, by contrast, an inflation-indexed rise will nudge base pay from $8.10 to $8.25. (Many states and localities have lower base wages for tipped employees, such as waiters.)

More: Midwest hospital workers to join fight for $15 hourly wage

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More: Raises: Survey shows 52% of workers didn't get one in the past year

A few months ago, Sarah Delte, a part-time cashier at a Jack in the Box in San Jose, got a raise from $12 an hour to $13.25 in anticipation of a city-mandated minimum wage increase to $13.50 on Jan. 1.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/money...n-1/961213001/

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