Workers in 22 states and dozens of localities will see a wage hike on New Year’s thanks to cost-of-living adjustments baked into minimum wage laws.
In all, 65 cities, counties and states will hike their wage floors at the start of 2024, the majority of them hitting at least $15 per hour, according to an analysis by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a group that advocates for higher minimum wages.
Another three states and 22 local jurisdictions will boost their minimums later in the year, including 15 that will set a floor of at least $17 for some workers.
The near-record number of increases is the result of years of organizing by workers and labor groups pushing state and local governments on the issue, particularly through the union-backed Fight for $15 campaign that began in fast food in 2012.
“In many areas, the mandated wage floor is starting to rise above the $15 that long served as a rallying cry for low-wage workers.”
Although Congress hasn’t raised the federal minimum wage in well over a decade, activists have succeeded in raising base wages around the country through ballot referendums and state legislation. Most recent measures included scheduled increases or tied the rates to an inflation index so that they adjust each year as consumer prices rise.
In many areas, the mandated wage floor is starting to rise above the $15 mark that long served as a rallying cry for low-wage workers.
Yannet Lathrop, a researcher and policy analyst who authored the NELP analysis, said new ballot initiatives and legislative campaigns are percolating in at least nine states, including efforts to raise the minimum wage to $18 in California and $20 in Massachusetts.
“In 2024, we are likely to see more wins,” said Lathrop.
State increases slated for Jan. 1, 2024:
- Alaska: $10.85 to $11.73
- Arizona: $10.85 to $14.35
- California: $15.50 to $16.00
- Colorado: $13.65 to $14.42
- Connecticut: $15.00 to $15.69
- Delaware: $11.75 to $13.25
- Hawaii: $12.00 to $14.00
- Illinois: $13.00 to $14.00
- Maine: $13.80 to $14.15
- Maryland: $13.25 ($12.80 for small employers) to $15.00
- Michigan: $10.10 to $10.33
- Minnesota: $10.50 to $10.85 (large employers); $8.63 to $8.85 (small employers)
- Missouri: $12.00 to $12.30
- Montana: $9.95 to $10.30
- Nebraska: $10.50 to $12.00
- New Jersey: $14.13 to $15.13
- New York: $15.00 to $16 (New York City area); $14.20 to $15 (Upstate)
- Ohio: $10.10 to $10.45
- Rhode Island: $13.00 to $14.00
- South Dakota: $10.80 to $11.20
- Vermont: $13.18 to $13.67
- Washington State: $15.74 to $16.28
Raises will come later in the year to Florida ($12.00 to $13.00), Nevada ($11.25 to $12.00) and Oregon ($14.20 to yet-to-be-determined). NELP’s full report detailing the increases and campaigns can be read here.
The federal minimum wage remains $7.25 per hour and hasn’t budged since the last of a series of increases signed into law by then-President George W. Bush in 2007. It prevails in any state that doesn’t mandate a higher one, though that share has shrunk to just 20 states, largely in the South, as more and more have boosted theirs above the federal level.
The elevated inflation of the pandemic era and wage gains at the bottom of the income scale have also lessened the impact of the federal minimum wage, since most employers must offer well above that rate just to attract workers. The tight labor market has also taken some of the bite out of higher state and local minimums, especially where unemployment is particularly low and competition for workers is intense.
But Lathrop said that the minimum wage is not losing relevancy, and that employers can always lower wages again when the market allows. She noted that Walmart reduced its starting wages for certain positions this year, as The Wall Street Journal reported.
“You can’t leave policies like the minimum wage to employers because they are at liberty to do these things,” Lathrop said. “This is a labor standard, not just a matter of what the market dictates. Whether the labor market is tight or not… that policy is there for the protection of workers.”
Business groups and GOP lawmakers have long opposed increases to the minimum wage, claiming they would force employers to cut jobs or hours. Republicans on Capitol Hill have stymied Democratic efforts to boost the federal minimum wage for years by blocking bills from reaching the floor for a vote.
Surveys typically show broad support for boosting the wage floor, with two-thirds of respondents often backing such moves in polls, including many conservative voters. Minimum wage ballot referendums have managed to sail through even in red states where governments are reluctant to put mandates on employers.
That’s why Lathrop is bullish on any 2024 wage referendums succeeding.
“If you put it in the form of a ballot initiative, they probably will pass it,” she said.