Minimum Wage Across US Sits Behind Companies Raising Wages

Employees have been fighting for a $15 per hour minimum wage for a decade and employers are finally listening.

While many states are raising their minimum wage in 2022, companies are moving faster to accommodate their employees’ circumstances. Hobby Lobby recently announced it would raise the minimum wage of its workers to $18.50, starting Jan. 1, 2022.

Costco announced a wage raise to $17 per hour while Amazon and Target increased their wages to $15. Earlier in the year, Chipotle increased its minimum wage to $15 per hour. They are far from the only companies in the U.S. to announce wage increases.

A total of 26 states announced raises to their minimum wage with 22 implementing those wage increases on Jan. 1, 2022, according to payroll experts at Wolters Kluwer Legal & Regulatory U.S. Many of these increases fall well below the $15 minimum desired by employees.

Deirdre Kennedy, a senior payroll analyst at Wolters Kluwer, said "these minimum wage increases indicate moves toward ensuring a living wage for people across the country. The change in presidential administration earlier this year and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have also contributed.”

The federal minimum wage is $7.25. California's minimum wage is $15. The minimum wage can also vary by county. New York City and other New York state counties, including Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties, also have a $15 minimum wage. Washington D.C.’s minimum wage is $15.20.

By 2023, Connecticut and Massachusetts plan to have state minimum wages of $15, followed by New Jersey in 2024, then Delaware, Illinois, Maryland (for large employers) and Rhode Island by 2025, and Florida and Maryland (for small employers) by 2026.

Most states have yet to implement a drastic wage increase that employees desire, with most wage increases on a state level slated for 2022 falling below $15. An executive order by President Joe Biden in April raised the minimum wage for new federal contractors to $15, which will go into effect on Jan. 30, 2022, but that did not raise the federal minimum wage for all contractors.

To help entice employees to return to work, companies are raising wages at a faster and more desirable rate than states or the federal government are. That is easier for large chains like Costco, Target or Amazon which made more money during the pandemic while smaller, local businesses struggled. The last time Congress raised the minimum wage was in 2009 to the current $7.25.