In 2016, New York state took a major step in boosting its labor industry by incrementally upping its minimum wage to $15 for New York City’s entire workforce by Dec. 31, 2019. But for many NYC-based workers, a minimum wage total that has remained static throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has not met the rising costs of living in the city and the weight of global inflation on their paychecks.
New legislation proposed by Bronx Assemblymember Latoya Joyner and Queens Sen. Jessica Ramos — both Democrats — is calling for a gradual minimum wage increase where the city’s current minimum wage of $15 would increase to $17 on Jan. 1, 2023, with future increases to reach $20.45 in 2025. For Long Island and Westchester, the minimum wage would increase from $15 to $16 on Jan. 1, 2023, with future increases to reach $17.95 in 2025. Upstate New York’s minimum wage would increase from $13.20 to $14.20 on Jan. 1, 2023, with future increases to reach $15.75 in 2025, followed by annual indexing.
Low pay was the No. 1 reason people quit their jobs, according to a recent Pew Research poll.
The state Legislature passed a scale in 2016 to increase the minimum wage throughout New York over the next several years, first hitting $15 an hour in New York City at the end of 2018 for large employers. The state’s minimum wage prior to passage of the new law was $9 per hour in 2016.
According to labor researchers, to live comfortably in the city, a resident would need to earn at least $11,355 monthly...
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