Minimum-wage workers in 22 states are going to see more money in their paychecks in the new year.
Those increases will affect an estimated 9.9 million workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), which estimates that those bumped wages will add up to an additional $6.95 billion in pay.
In addition to those 22 states, 38 cities and counties will also increase their minimum wages above state minimums on Jan. 1.
According to the Department of Labor, 20 states will maintain the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
And according to EPI, of the 17.6 million workers earning less than $15 an hour, nearly half live in those 20 states that continue to stick to the federal minimum wage — which has not changed since 2009.
The cost of living, however, has skyrocketed.
So less than half the people live in less than half of the states? This seems pretty proportional. Especially considering that more people in general live in $15+ minimum cities.
Am I reading that statistic wrong?
Also with this inflation, all I’m seeing is a greater need to tie a company’s top earner pay to bottom earner pay, or to company stock success or profitability or something.