By Juliana Kaplan, Joseph Zeballos-Roig and Madison Hoff
Business Insider, July 24, 2022
There comes a time when someone — or something — undergoes a big transition: Becoming a teenager.
For humans, it's often a time of celebration and change. But for policy, it means things haven't changed in a long time. And it's a milestone the $7.25 federal minimum wage just reached. ...
Many states and cities have taken matters into their own hands ... But 20 others still have their minimum wage at the federal rate.
One of those states is New Hampshire. "It's not feasible for people to live on that wage," Rebecca Hamilton, co-owner of W.S. Badger Company in New Hampshire, said. She pays a minimum wage of $15 an hour, and sees even that as "insufficient."
Without a wage standard, states like New Hampshire may also see labor shortages worsen, as workers have to leave to make more.
"We've historically had an issue with young people leaving New Hampshire and finding work elsewhere," Hamilton said. "If you start your first job at minimum wage, and you're able to get $15 an hour over in Massachusetts, people are going to leave New Hampshire to go to Massachusetts." ...