Source: Mark Wilson / Getty

Minimum Wage Increases Are Coming To 20 States In January

Minimum wage workers have something to look forward to once 2019 rolls around.

On January 1, many low-income workers in the US will be getting a raise. Minimum wage increases go into effect on or around New Year’s Day in 21 states and 19 cities, according to data collected by the nonprofit National Employment Law Project.

Approximately half of these places will see an increase due to a one-time bill passed  by voters or legislators that requires a wage hike.

For example, Arkansas voters approved an initiative last year to increase the minimum wage to $11.00 an hour by 2021, which begins with an increase to $9.25 on Jan. 1, from what stands at $8.50 now. Other states will increase wages due to laws that require the minimum to increase with the cost of living like in Florida, where the minimum will go up from $8.25 to$8.46 to match inflation.

Other states raising the minimum wage include New York, Rhode Island, Delaware, Colorado, and Arizona.

It’s not only states that are making this change, though. Of the 13 cities that will increase the minimum wage on January 1, 10 are in California. Cities across CA, particularly those near Silicon Valley, are raising the minimum wage in the hopes that it will help lower-income workers get by in the growingly expensive area.

As Quartz points out, economists continue to disagree about the impact of minimum-wage increases.

In some cases, they have found that higher wages decrease the number of jobs available, as certain employers would rather not have another staff member than pay the minimum salary. Other studies have found that it has little effect on the number of jobs available, with few employers unable to pay the minimum.