Even a $15 minimum wage doesn’t cover basic costs in most parts of the country.
This story is published as part of Teen Vogue’s 2022 Economic Security Project fellowship.
This past New Year’s Eve, the clock struck midnight and almost two dozen states did what Congress has so far failed to do: They raised the minimum wage.
Thanks to voters in 21 states, hourly workers around the country saw their paychecks increase. Michigan, Colorado, and Minnesota were the most timid with their raises, increasing them by 22 cents, 24 cents, and 25 cents, respectively. Illinois, New Jersey, California, and New Mexico, meanwhile, enacted raises of a dollar, while Delaware’s increased by $1.25 and Virginia’s by $1.50.
In most cases, these hikes are one of several annual adjustments designed to move a state’s minimum wage to a new base standard over the course of several years. Michigan’s state lawmakers, for example, passed their minimum wage increase law in 2018 with the goal of raising the wage to $12 by 2030. Illinois lawmakers passed their law in 2019, with the goal of raising the rate to $15 by 2025.
These state-level minimum-wage adjustments are certainly worth noting as we mark the 10-year anniversary of the beginning of the Fight for $15 movement. But even with these advances, California is the only state in the country so far to hit that $15 statewide minimum wage benchmark, though it only applies to businesses with 26 or more employees. For workers, any increase is a step in the...
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