13 states raising pay for minimum-wage workers
State minimum wages will exceed the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour in 21 states on Jan. 1.
Alex Robles joins dozens of sign-holding protesters at a rally against low wages for fast-food workers in front of a McDonald's on Dec. 5 in Phoenix. (Photo: Ross D. Franklin, AP)
6:24 p.m. EST December 29, 2013
Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
The retail-worker strikes that swept the nation in 2013 did not move Congress to raise the minimum wage, but a growing number of states are taking action.
The minimum wage will rise in 13 states this week, and as many as 11 states and Washington, D.C., are expected to consider increases in 2014, according to the National Employment Law Project. Approval is likely in more than half of the 11, says NELP policy analyst Jack Temple.
The trend reflects growing concerns about the disproportionate spread of low-wage jobs in the U.S. economy, creating millions of financially strained workers and putting too little money in consumers' pockets to spur faster economic growth.
On Jan. 1, state minimum wages will be higher than the federal requirement of $7.25 an hour in 21 states, up from 18 two years ago. Temple expects another nine states to drift above the federal minimum by the end of 2014, marking the first time minimum pay in most states will be above the federal level.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/12/29/states-raising-minimum-wage/4221773/