Millions of low-paid workers to get pay hikes

Nineteen states to ring in new year with increases in minimum wages

ALBANY, N.Y. — It will be a happy New Year indeed for millions of the lowest-paid U.S. workers. Nineteen states, including New York and California, will ring in the year with an increase in the minimum wage.

Massachusetts and Washington state will have the highest new minimum wages in the country, at $11 per hour.

California will raise its wage to $10. New York state is taking a regional approach, with the wage rising to $11 in New York City, $10 in its downstate suburbs and $9.70 elsewhere.

“This $1.50 increase, I cannot even comprehend or tell you how important this will be,” said Alvin Major, a New York City fast-food worker. The 51-year-old father of four helped lead the fight for the increase in his state, one of several successful efforts by fastfood workers and other low-wage workers around the country. “The price of food has gone up. Rent has gone up. Everything has gone up. … This will make a difference for so many people.”

Voters in Arizona, Maine, Colorado and Washington approved increases in this year’s election. Seven other states, Alaska, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio and South Dakota, are automatically raising the wage based on indexing. The other states seeing increases are Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Michigan and Vermont.

In New Mexico, where a new Democratic majority leads the Roundhouse, lawmakers are spearheading an effort to raise the state’s minimum wage in the upcoming session. The state wage is currently $7.50 an hour, with several municipalities requiring higher minimums within city limits — as high as $10.91 an hour in Santa Fe, set to increase to more than $11 an hour next year.

Two bills are already on the table: one that would raise the state’s minimum to $15 an hour, sponsored by Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero, D-Albuquerque, and another by Sen. William Soules, D-Las Cruces, that would raise it to $8.45 an hour.

The New Mexican business community has long resisted minimum-wage increases, saying such policy changes would harm the state’s already-depressed economy.

Workers and labor advocates argue the increases will help lowwage workers now barely making ends meet and boost the economy by giving some consumers more money to spend. But many business owners say they would lead to higher prices and greater automation.

Some restaurant owners may consider reducing portion sizes or charging for side dishes that were once included in the price of a meal to absorb the increase.