NYC’s minimum wage hits $15

ALBANY, N.Y. — The minimum wage is rising to $15 for all workers in New York City — making it among the first places in the country to reach the goal sought by many labor activists.

Workers elsewhere in the state will make less: $13 in the city’s near suburbs and $11.80 upstate. The changes officially go into effect Tuesday.

In 2013, New York raised the minimum wage to $9 from $7.25 for nontipped workers. A 2016 law called for the state to eventually raise its minimum wage to $15 but phased it in at different rates for New York City, the suburbs and upstate. The law also gave small New York City employers with 10 or fewer employees an extra year to make it to $15.

This year, Democrats who won newfound majorities in state legislatures and grabbed governors’ seats in 2018 successfully pushed to raise the minimum wage in several states. But New York City is moving faster than many. Connecticut’s minimum wage, now $11 an hour, is gradually being raised and will reach $15 on June 1, 2023.Washington, D.C.’s minimum wage will jump to $14 in July. California’s will jump to $15 in 2022, while Massachusetts will reach $15 by 2023, and New Jersey by 2024. The minimum wage in Seattle, meanwhile, will soon hit $16.39.

“We’re seeing an unprecedented number of states, cities, and counties raise the minimum wage,” said Yannet Lathrop, researcher and policy analyst with the National Employment Law Project. “Local communities all around the country strongly support raising the minimum wage, because people see their friends, neighbors, or themselves working hard but not getting ahead.“

Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has praised the rate, which has gone up at a time when unemployment is historically low at 4 percent in New York. His administration recently released a report that cited such unemployment figures and rising average wages and found “negligible, if any impacts” on labor demands throughout the state.

“New York is leading the fight for economic justice, proudly setting a national example by raising the minimum wage to $15,” Cuomo said.