By Bob Salsberg
Associated Press, June 26, 2014
BOSTON (AP) - Gov. Deval Patrick signed a law on Thursday that would raise the state’s $8 per hour minimum wage to a U.S.-leading $11 per hour by 2017. ... The first increase in the minimum wage, to $9 per hour, will take effect on Jan. 1. The hourly wage will bump up to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016 and to $11 on Jan. 1, 2017, which would be above any increase currently planned in other states.
State officials said the new law would affect about 600,000 minimum wage workers along with an additional 200,000 tipped workers, such as restaurant servers, whose minimum wage before tips would rise from $2.63 per hour to $3.75 per hour by 2017.
Some business leaders remained skeptical of the changes. ... But other business owners backed the change. Holly Sklar, head of the group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, argued that putting more money into the pockets of workers would generate more economic activity in the state. ...
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