Minimum Wages To Be Increased In Twenty One States

Minimum Wage
Minimum Wage

The new year will bring with it an increase in minimum wages. 21 American states will increase the rates ranging from a few cents to dollars an hour. All the raises will begin on Saturday except New York (Friday).

The rise in the minimum wages in eight places including New York is part of the effort to get $15 an hour in the next few years. The states working for the $15/hour program are Delaware, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Rhode Island, and New Jersey. 

Minimum Wage Rates Increased

The states increased the minimum wages due to previously passed legislation. Other state-required minimum wage increases also resulted in the new rates. The rates are in accordance with the new cost of residing based on the current inflation rates. Places, where it applies, are Colorado, Arizona, Minnesota, Ohio, Montana, Washington, Vermont, and South Dakota. 

In 2018, an election in Missouri passed a proposal to increase minimum wages to $12 an hour over 5 years. Virginia, Michigan, and New Mexico passed a similar $12 an hour legislation. 

The states of Nevada, Florida, Oregon, and Connecticut will have an increase in minimum wage rates later in 2022. 

The new wages rates for the states are; Arizona $12.80, California $15, Colorado $12.56, Delaware $10.50, Illinois $12, Maine $12.75, Maryland $12.50, Massachusetts $14.25, Michigan $9.87, Minnesota $10.33, Missouri $11.15, Montana $9.20, New Jersey $13, New Mexico $11.50, New York $13.20, Ohio $9.30, Rhode Island $12.25, South Dakota $9.95, Vermont $12.55, Virginia $11 and Washington $14.49.

The national minimum wage will stay constant at 7 dollars and 25 cents. The rate has not changed since it started in the year 2009. The 13 years without an increase in wages is the most prolonged period in American history. 

The US President and a few Democrats have supported a $15 an hour minimum wage. In April, Joe Biden increased the rates for national contractors for 15 dollars an hour. The $15 an hour rate will begin by January end.