NJ Today, February 8, 2025

The rising cost of living has become a central concern for Americans, with everyday expenses, like a cup of coffee, reaching new highs. Yet, for millions of workers, the federal minimum wage has remained stagnant since 2009. ... In response, many states have taken matters into their own hands by raising their minimum wage, with 21 states implementing increases at the start of 2025. ...

Many business owners also support these changes, noting that higher wages can lead to increased consumer spending, improved employee retention, and stronger local economies.

Mitch...

By Ashlyn O'hara
Alaska Public Media, January 23, 2025

Alaska’s minimum wage has increased annually since voters tied the hourly rate to inflation in 2014. Earlier this month, it went up by $0.18 per hour, from $11.73 to $11.91. But this year, the minimum wage is going up twice. On July 1, it’s jumping by more than a dollar – to $13 per hour. That’s after voters passed Ballot Measure 1 last November. The initiative increases Alaska’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2027. ...

Not all businesses oppose the changes, though. More...

By Sean Salai
Washington Times, January 22, 2025

... State-mandated inflation adjustments, recent legislation and voter-approved ballot measures enacted minimum wage increases in 21 states on Jan. 1. ...

“Raising the minimum wage is a very efficient way to boost businesses and the economy because it puts money in the pockets of people who most need to spend it,” said Holly Sklar, CEO of the advocacy group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. ...

Advocates argue that regular wage hikes foster economic growth, reduce employee turnover and mitigate rising living costs for these workers. ...

Read more

By Kevin Hardy
Stateline, January 10, 2025. Also Yahoo News, Governing, Missouri Independent, St. Joseph News Press (MO), Richmond Register, Virginia Mercury, New Hampshire Bulletin, Laconia Daily Sun (NH), Boston Herald, South Dakota Searchlight, Ohio Capital Journal, Arkansas Advocate, Louisiana Illuminator, Scottsbluff Star Herald (NE), many more

The minimum wage will increase in nearly half the states this year even as the federal wage floor remains stuck at $7.25 per hour. In many states, the minimum wage is automatically adjusted upward as inflation rises. But voters in several states, including deeply red ones such as...

By Mike Cullinan
Springfield Business Journal, January 10, 2025

The Missouri Supreme Court is weighing a challenge from several business groups that want the November election results overturned for Proposition A, the minimum wage and sick leave ballot initiative. ...

Erik Milan, owner of new and used record store Stick It In Your Ear LLC, said he was confident that voters would approve Proposition A in November.

“It’s good for the economy in general. Obviously, it’s more money in people’s pockets, which means that they can come spend at stores like mine,” he said, noting...

By Rudi Keller
Missouri Independent, January 6, 2025. Also Yahoo News, St. Louis Business Journal, Jefferson City News Tribune, Columbia Missourian, Columbia Daily Tribune, The Pitch KC, KSDK-TV (St. Louis), Maryville Forum, Phelps County Focus (Rolla) St. Joseph Post, Griffon News (St. Joseph), Perry County Republic Monitor, more 

... Proposition A, placed on the ballot via initiative petition, passed in November with 58% of the vote with support from unions, workers’ advocacy groups, social justice and civil rights organizations, and a coalition of more than 500 business owners. ...

But a court challenge filed in...

By Stephen Herzog
Columbia Daily Tribune, January 2, 2025

When the new year came around Wednesday, some of Missouri's lowest wage earners saw a bump in pay, as the minimum wage increased to $13.75 with the passage of Proposition A. ...

Michelle La Fata, owner of Pasta La Fata in Columbia, was one of hundreds of business owners who supported the passage of Prop A.

“Raising the minimum wage is a great way to start the new year," she said. "That money helps workers make ends meet and recirculates throughout our economy as spending at...

By Thomas C. Zambito (USA Today Network)
Democrat and Chronicle, Rochester, January 2, 2025. Also Yahoo News

New York’s minimum wage gets a 50-cent bump in January, to $16.50 in Westchester, New York City and Long Island and $15.50 in the rest of the state. This will be the first of two 50-cent increases that will bring the minimum wage to $17 downstate and $16 farther north by 2026. ...

New York joins 20 other states that will increase their minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2025. Fifteen states have a minimum wage of $15 or...

By Ron Ruggless
Nation's Restaurant News, January 2, 2025. Also Supermarket News, CSP Daily News

Minimum wages increased in 21 states on Jan. 1, and more hikes are expected later in the year. The federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour, a rate last adjusted in July 2009. ...

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a lobbying group, noted that voters in Missouri and Alaska approved ballot measures last year and 15 states plus the District of Columbia have a minimum wage of $15 or higher now or are phasing in scheduled increases to...

By Christina Lengyel
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, January 2, 2025. Original in The Center Square. Also MSN, The Washington Examiner, Franklin County Free Press (PA), WFMZ-TV (Lehigh Valley, PA), North Central PA Online, Altoona Mirror (PA), Times Observer (Warren, PA), Clinton County Record (PA), Colorado Springs Gazette, more

Twenty-one states across the U.S. are raising the minimum wage in 2025. Pennsylvania Democrats would like to see the commonwealth soon join their ranks. Sen. Art Haywood, D-Philadelphia, joined legislators and representatives from the business community Tuesday in Lancaster to draw attention to the state’s $7.25 minimum....

By Hannah Falcon
KY3 TV (Gray Media), January 1, 2025. Also KMOV-TV (St. Louis), KFVS-TV (Cape Girardeau), KCTV (Kansas City), WGEM-TV (Quincy, IL), KAIT-TV (Jonesboro, AR)

A new minimum wage starts Wednesday in Missouri. Effective New Year’s Day, Missouri’s new minimum wage is $13.75 cents per hour. In 2026, it will rise to $15 an hour and then rise each year based on the Consumer Price Index. ...

Nestled in Downtown Columbia, Yellow Dog Bookshop sells new and used books. It’s a small business owned and operated by Joe Chevalier. Chevalier said he competes with...

By Amy Yee
Chicago Sun Times, December 31, 2024. Also WBEZ Chicago

Illinois will raise its minimum wage by $1 on Wednesday to $15 per hour, joining more than 20 states increasing minimum hourly wages in 2025. ...

The federal minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 per hour since July 24, 2009, — the longest period in history without a raise, according to the national coalition Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. The group, citing the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator, said purchasing power has “eroded greatly” since peaking in 1968 when the...

By Steve Kirch
KTUU-TV (Alaska's News Source), December 31, 2024

Workers in Alaska can anticipate two pay raises in 2025, along with a new benefit that was not available in 2024, as a result of two ballot measures passed over the last ten years. The Alaska minimum wage will increase from $11.73 to $11.91 in 2025, starting on New Year’s Day. This change is due to a ballot initiative passed by voters in 2014, which allows for annual adjustments based on inflation. However, on July 1, 2025, wages will again increase to $13 per hour...

By Juliana Kaplan
Business Insider, December 31, 2024

Workers in 21 states are set to start the new year with a raise. ...

Mike Draper, the owner and founder of screen-printing and retail business RAYGUN, whose 10 stores include a location in Missouri, told Business Insider that minimum wage increases — like the one recently approved by that state's voters —could help bolster workers' spending power. Draper already pays his workers a starting wage of $15.50 an hour.

"This is different from a tax increase, or a rent increase, or a cost of goods increase...

By Jaxon White
LNP/Lancaster Online, December 31, 2024

Three Democratic state lawmakers gathered in Lancaster on Tuesday to renew their call for a higher statewide minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009. Lancaster state Rep. Izzy Smith-Wade-El, along with Sen.-elect Patty Kim, of Harrisburg, and Sen. Art Haywood, of Montgomery County, said at a press conference that they plan to introduce legislation to more than double the current rate to $15 an hour and include an annual cost-of-living adjustment tied to the rate of inflation.

“If you want the labor of...