The States That Raised Their Minimum Wages

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By Andre Claudio

Connecting state and local government leaders

| February 16, 2022

Twenty-one states increased their minimum wages this year and nine more planning to boost them later in 2022.

At the beginning of the year, 21 states raised their per-hour minimum wages, ranging from a 22-cent inflation adjustment to $9.87 in Michigan to a $1.50 boost to $11 in Virginia, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute.

The other states that increased their minimum wages are:

Previous Wage / Raised to

Arizona—$12.15/$12.80
California—$14.00/$15.00
Colorado—$12.32/$12.56
Delaware—$9.25/$10.50
Illinois—$11.00/$12.00
Maine—$12.15/$12.75
Maryland—$11.75/$12.50
Massachusetts—$13.50/$14.25
Minnesota—$10.08/$10.33
Missouri—$10.30/$11.15
Montana—$8.75/$9.20
New Jersey—$12.00/$13.00
New Mexico—$10.50/$11.50
New York—$12.50/$13.20
Ohio—$8.80/$9.30
Rhode Island—$11.50/$12.25
South Dakota—$9.45/$9.95
Vermont—$11.75/$12.55
Washington—$13.69/$14.49

According to the report, in 11 states—California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia— the increase is a result of legislation passed by state lawmakers to raise their state’s wage floors.

In addition, the raises are the result of automatic annual inflation adjustments in nine states: Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Ohio, South Dakota and Washington.

Furthermore, Connecticut, Florida, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, D.C. (state equivalent) have minimum wage increases scheduled to occur later in 2022, the report says.

There are critics of raising minimum wages. According to a survey conducted by CNBC|SurveyMonk ey earlier this year, 20% of small-business owners surveyed said they would be forced to lay off workers if the minimum wage increases to $15 an hour, while another 13% said they’d likely raise wages for some workers while laying others off.

For more information from the Economic Policy Institute report click here.

Andre Claudio is an assistant editor at Route Fifty.

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