By John Reitmeyer
NJ Spotlight News, Jan 16, 2024
The minimum hourly wage is now over $15 for the first time in New Jersey, thanks to a $1 increase that took effect on Jan. 1, immediately lifting take-home pay for an estimated 350,000 hourly workers. ...
New Jersey was one of 22 states across the nation to see a minimum wage increase take effect on Jan. 1, according to Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national group that tracks and advocates for such increases.
Among the places that have gone well beyond the $15 threshold are Washington, D.C., where the minimum wage is $17, and New York City, which has a $16 minimum wage, according to the business group. ...
[Gov.] Murphy took some by surprise when he suggested during last month’s interview with WNYC that ramping up to a minimum wage of $18 an hour, or even $20, may now be appropriate for New Jersey.
But according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator, a worker would need $18.28 today to buy what $15 got in 2019, when New Jersey’s wage goal was set in law. ...