Resident’s in the Garden State who work for minimum wage will eventually see a significant increase in their paychecks. New Jersey lawmakers reached an agreement Thursday to raise its minimum wage to $15 by 2024.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and the Democrats who lead the state Legislature disagreed over which workers should be included in the wage increase, according to at least one news outlet.
The new plan would raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour on July 1, $11 an hour in 2020, $12 an hour in 2021, $13 in 2022, $14 in 2023 and $15 in 2024.
Some in the state legislature called for exceptions to be made for some employers, including small businesses and farmers.
“I’m sorry it took as long as it did, but I think we came up with a really good compromise,” Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D) said. “It took forever, but we got it done.”
“This is a big, big step forward for New Jersey. And particularly, it’s responsible,” Murphy said during while speaking at a town hall meeting. “We are changing the lives of a million workers in this state. I can’t stress that enough.”
The process is not completely finished. The state Senate and state Assembly still need to pass a bill that will need to be signed into law by Murphy.
Democrats in the national House and Senate proposed a bill Tuesday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has not increased in a decade and was based on legislation passed in 2007.
What do you think about this increase for New Jersey? Do you think other states will follow suit and provide the same kind of increases to minimum wage? We look forward to seeing your comments at the end of this article on this crucial issue facing so many people.
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