The CT Mirror
After a series of annual $1 increases set by the General Assembly, Connecticut’s $15 minimum wage will rise by a relatively modest 69 cents on Jan. 1, the first of the state’s raises pegged to a federal index that tracks wages.
The increase announced Monday by Gov. Ned Lamont is the first computed under the terms of a 2019 law that ends decades of periodic partisan fights over the minimum wage and puts it on an annual autopilot.
The law requires the state to automatically raise the minimum wage each year based on the Employment Cost Index, a measure of wage growth calculated by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“I think work should pay,” said Lamont, a former businessman who has straddled a line between labor and business.
The Democratic governor has fought fiscal policies he deems a drag on economic growth, but he delivered on two promises to labor in his first year in office: Raising the minimum wage, and creating a paid family and medical leave.
Lamont announced the new minimum wage in Windham, a community of 24,000 that is the largest in northeast Connecticut and one of the poorest in the state. The mayor, Tom Devivo, said it ranks second-to-last in wages.
The impact will be muted by a tight labor market that has pushed many fast-food and retail employers to set starting wages well above the minimum wage, but Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz said the bump still will mean raises for many.
“We think it’s going to affect approximately 10% of our workforce —...
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