These states will raise their minimum wages in 2023

As the calendar turns to 2023, workers in more than half the country have something to look forward to this year: a higher minimum wage.

This is because the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 an hour – the same level since 2009.

But many countries and cities have put their own rates in place, and many are poised to increase in the new year.

A total of 26 countries have announced that a higher minimum wage will be introduced during 2023, with one more country that will undergo an adjustment in July, according to research from salary experts at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory US.

Meanwhile, 23 states and Washington, DC, according to the Economic Policy Institute, will implement higher minimum wages on January 1. The increase, which will go from 23 cents to $1.50 an hour, will affect 8 million workers.

The state poised to provide the highest minimum wage rate is Washington, at $15.74 an hour, according to Wolters Kluwer.

Workers under the age of 16 in the state will be paid $13.38 an hour starting in 2023, or 85% of the adult minimum wage.

The minimum wage in Washington, DC, will be $16.10 an hour.

Washington, DC, and 13 states link the minimum wage to the consumer price index, the government’s measure of the average change consumers pay for certain goods and services.

“There are a number of states across the country that will see minimum wage increases due to higher inflation rates in the past year,” said Deirdre Kennedy, senior salary analyst at Wolters Kluwer.

Other states will continue to increase increases enacted through legislation. States that do not see a minimum wage increase by 2023 still tie their base wages to the federal rate of $7.25 an hour.

President Joe Biden has campaigned to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. He signed an executive order in 2022 raising that level for federal workers and contractors.

But a broader change to $15 an hour nationally would have to go through Congress. Efforts to raise the national level have failed to enact Covid-19 relief legislation in 2021.

“As the gap between that and the federal minimum wage increases, it will be interesting to see what can kind of spur more momentum for other states to increase wages or try and get more momentum at the federal level,” said Kevin Werner, research associate at the Center for Income Policy and Benefits in the Urban Institute.

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Raising the national minimum wage to $15 an hour would affect 56 million workers, according to an Urban Institute report released in September.

The study models possible outcomes in which a new $15 minimum wage results in no job losses and two different scenarios in which job losses do occur.

“Even in the highest job loss scenario, we still find that on average, the average worker is better off, and poverty is declining,” Werner said.

“Although some people who lose their jobs may be worse off, the net effect is still positive,” he said.

The majority of workers who would be affected by the $15 minimum wage are over 25, according to Werner. About a third is the sole income earner for his family.

Workers dependent on the minimum wage are also more likely to be people of color and living in poverty. Consequently, raising the national minimum wage would help vulnerable people, Werner said.

Raising the minimum wage can also increase consumer demand and put money back into local economies, said Holly Sklar, CEO of Businesses for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national network of business organizations, owners and executives who support a higher minimum wage.

“Putting into the pockets of minimum wage workers is necessary [is] really the most efficient way you can boost the economy,” Sklar said. “It’s the people who should immediately go back around and spend it.”

With federal action to raise the minimum wage uncertain, some big-name companies have already raised pay rates.

Costco has raised the minimum wage for shop workers US $ 16 per hour, while Target, Amazon and Walmart have all moved to pay hourly workers $15 an hour.

As the economy continues to open up after the death of Covid, competition for workers has led employers to offer higher wages and start bonuses for workers at the lower end of the income spectrum, Werner said.

“It gives more low-income workers than ever before,” he said.