Following the battle cries of retail, fast-food, and other low-income workers, the push for a $15 per hour minimum wage is heating up. In 2015, 14 cities and states approved schedules toward this rate. For some, initiatives to get there have already taken place, while others will see changes coming in the following years. Below is a list of the action some cities and states are taking right now.
- New York City fast-food workers will see a $15 per hour minimum wage by 2018, with the rest of the state following suit by 2021. Likewise, state-employees will receive the same benefits in the same schedule. Buffalo and Rochester specifically agreed to have state-employees earning this amount by 2021, while Syracuse enacted the increase immediately for city workers back in 2015.
- Los Angeles, Mountain View, Emeryville and the County of Los Angeles will see the $15 increase between 2018 and 2021.
- Home health care workers in Massachusetts will be the first of their industry to receive a $15 minimum wage in America. This was enacted statewide, and the effect will be final by July 2018.
- Earlier in 2015, Portland and Milwaukie, Oregon increased the minimum wage for city and contract workers to $15. In 2016, Oregon Governor Kate Brown extended this by signing a law to create a three-wage tier system, with the highest rate applying to the Portland Metropolitan area. However, non-urban and rural areas will have a $1.00 lower than the base rate, with their minimum rage ultimately rest at $12.50 by July 2022.
- Missoula, Pittsburgh, and Greensboro also raised their minimum wages for low-wage workers in 2015, with the effect being phased in between 2017 and 2021.
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