Minimum-wage workers in 22 states are going to see more money in their paychecks in the new year.

Those increases will affect an estimated 9.9 million workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which estimates that those bumped wages will add up to an additional $6.95 billion in pay.

In addition to those 22 states, 38 cities and counties will also increase their minimum wages above state minimums on Jan. 1.

According to the Department of Labor, 20 states will maintain the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.

And according to EPI, of the 17.6 million workers earning less than $15 an hour, nearly half live in those 20 states that continue to stick to the federal minimum wage — which has not changed since 2009.

The cost of living, however, has skyrocketed.

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    That it isn’t all 50 states is the real headline, if you ask me.

    There are still over 20 states where it’s legal to pay you less than the cost of a cup of coffee.

  • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    What the FUCK is the federal minimum wage still doing at 7.25/hr? It hasn’t been raised since 2009?!!

    High school students today LITERALLY have the same federal minimum wage as when they were born.

  • BossDj@lemm.ee
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    11 months ago

    nearly half live in those 20 states that continue to stick to the federal minimum wage

    So less than half the people live in less than half of the states? This seems pretty proportional. Especially considering that more people in general live in $15+ minimum cities.

    Am I reading that statistic wrong?

    Also with this inflation, all I’m seeing is a greater need to tie a company’s top earner pay to bottom earner pay, or to company stock success or profitability or something.

  • Verdant Banana@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    in summary if you win the geographic lottery good for you otherwise it is your fault for not voting right

    why even call this united states at this point if we are not going to have a strong federal law uniting all states

    also biden’s “economic gains” were mostly in the states that did not go up on the minimum wage so yeah good job creating low wage jobs in areas that are already struggling and then going back on the campaign promise of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour which is now too low