These 20 states are raising their minimum wage on Jan. 1

RV_ · January 1

I don't know if this applies to RV positions but if it does might be good data for trip planning.

Excerpt:

"While the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 has hit poor Americans the hardest, minimum wage earners in 20 U.S. states will get raises at the start of the new year. Four more states, plus Washington, DC, will raise their minimum wages later in 2021.

Florida’s workers will get one of the biggest raises, after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in November to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2026. The lowest-earning workers there earn $8.56 per hour and will move up to $8.65 on Jan. 1 and then $10 on Sept. 30.

Even without state mandates like Florida’s, some businesses have increased wages on their own, including Florida-based Lakewood Juices, which boosted the wage for its lowest earners to $15 four years ago. That boost “improves our own workers’ productivity,” according to Lakewood CEO Scott Fuhrman, who’s part of a national network called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage.

Florida joins a range of states — California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — that are all in the process of gradually increasing their minimum wage to $15. California’s minimum wage is set to reach $14 in 2021 and then $15 in 2022. Other states will reach $15 an hour in the subsequent years.

Certain localities — like New York City, Washington DC, San Francisco, and others — already have minimum wages at or above $15.

The full list of states set to see a wage increase on Jan. 1 include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington state.

‘I can only sell so much juice to the 1%’

The federal minimum wage by contrast has been fixed at $7.25 an hour since 2009, and that amount applies in 21 states."

Source: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/20-states-minimum-wage-increases-2021-204034392.html

Kirk W · January 2

Quote

Five states have not adopted a state minimum wage: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The FLSA requires employers in every state to pay covered and nonexempt workers at least the federal hourly minimum wage. .

RV_ · January 3

Kirk, why a quote with no non-quote verbiage?

You posted

"Five states have not adopted a state minimum wage: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The FLSA requires employers in every state to pay covered and nonexempt workers at least the federal hourly minimum wage. ."

Although I am sure you did not mean to, but that seems to imply Texas does pay more $7.25/hour. Texas also pays the federal minimum wage, $7.25/hr, whether they passed a state minimum wage law that is the same, or just follows the federal law. It is as bad as the rest of the "Southern" states - Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, all of which have a $7.25 /hr minimum wage:

Source: https://www.minimum-wage.org/alabama

You can check all of the states at that website, they re listed alphabetically.

The Southern exceptions are Florida with $8.65 now and going up to $10.00 in Sept 2021, and Arkansas with $11.00/hr. That was a surprise!

That's terrible, and is up to each state. The federal minimum wage does not limit them, nor legitimize $7.25 which is not a living wage.

$7.25/hr is $15,080.00 / year.

2020 Federal Poverty Guidelines Chart

The HHS Department issues poverty guidelines for each household size. For example, the poverty level for a household of four in 2020 is an annual income of $26,200. To get the poverty level for larger families, add $4,480 for each additional person in the household. For smaller families, subtract $4,480 per person. Guidelines for Alaska and Hawaii are higher since it's more expensive to live there. The chart below calculates it for you.1