Record number of US cities, counties, and states to raise minimum wage in 2023

After a decade since the launch of the Fight for $15 movement in New York City, a record number of U.S. states and communities are going to raise the minimum wage in the new year.

From New Year’s Eve to New Year’s Day, the minimum wage will increase in 23 states and 41 cities and counties, according to a report released Thursday by the National Employment Law Project (NELP). In 40 of those 64 jurisdictions, it will hit or exceed $15 an hour for at least some workers.

By the end of 2023, additional increases are planned in five states and 22 localities—with 21 reaching or topping $15 an hour—bringing the total for next year to 86: 27 states and 59 cities and counties, says the report, Raises From Coast to Coast in 2023. The totals take into account that multiple increases are planned in Michigan and four local jurisdictions.

“The raises we are seeing are a true testament to the power of organizing,” said Yannet Lathrop, senior researcher and policy analyst at NELP, in a statement. “These raises were achieved in a variety of ways, from ballot initiatives to statehouses to workers making their demands to employers directly.”

“The monumental impact of the Fight for $15 is clearly visible in this year’s record wage increases as well as those in years past,” said NELP executive director Rebecca Dixon. “But in those same 10 years, congressional action to expand worker rights has been limited.”

In March 2021, eight members of the Democratic caucus, joined all 50 Republicans in the U.S. Senate to kill legislation that would have established a $15 federal minimum wage, lifting millions of people out of poverty. Among those Democrats was Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who officially declared herself an Independent in recent weeks.

State-wide polling conducted shortly before that vote last year showed a majority of Arizonans across the political spectrum in favor of increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour. In November 2021, the people of Sinema’s hometown of Tucson approved a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in Arizona’s second-largest city.

NELP’s new report notes that Tucson residents are on track to see a $15 hourly wage by 2025. The city’s current rate is $13, but it is set to increase to $13.85 on January 1, with a $10.85 tipped wage—both in line with the state’s floor.

“In 2023 and 2024, the campaigns to watch include an $18 ballot measure in California and possible ballot measures in Arizona, Ohio, and Michigan,” the publication points out.

“On the legislative front, there may be one fair wage campaigns in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maryland,” the report adds, “as well as efforts to raise the minimum wage in Maryland (to speed up the state’s implementation of a $15 minimum wage), Massachusetts (where the minimum will reach $15 in 2023 and there are no inflation adjustments planned for following years), and New York (where the demand is $21.25 by 2026-2027).”

Originally published at Commondreams.org.