On November 3, 2020, Floridians made the historic decision to move an estimated 2.5 million workers closer to a living wage with a “yes” vote on Amendment 2. This gradually raised the state minimum wage to $15 per hour. The first phase went into effect in 2021, increasing the minimum wage from $8.65 to $10 per hour. It will continue to increase by one dollar each September until it reaches $15 in 2026.
This vote made Florida the eighth state to raise its minimum wage to $15, but the first in the South to do so by ballot measure. Florida remains the only state whose minimum wage is codified in its constitution, the utmost level of state law.
But the enactment of a state minimum wage does not ensure workers will be paid in accordance with it. Unfortunately, the failure to pay workers the wages they are legally due—or wage theft—is widespread in low-wage jobs and disproportionately impacts women, immigrants, and people of color. These are the very groups minimum wage increases like Amendment 2 are meant to benefit. Wage theft also forces law-abiding employers to compete with unscrupulous employers’ artificially low labor costs, while workers’ suppressed wages weaken consumer spending.
Despite having one of the highest minimum wages in the South, Florida simultaneously has the highest minimum wage violation rate of the ten most populous states in the nation. Florida victims of wage theft lose 18 percent of the minimum wage to which they are entitled, on average, or $1.32 per...
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