By Emma Beck
USA Today, Jan 29, 2013
Nearly half the states have increased their minimum wage this year or are considering plans to hike it as the economy transitions from recession to a stronger recovery. Thirteen states have weighed wage increases since Jan. 1. Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii are among the most recent. ... In nine other states, automatic wage hikes took effect, adding 10 to 35 cents per hour to state minimum wages. In a 10th state, an increase approved by the Rhode Island Legislature last June raised the state's minimum from $7.40 to $7.75 as of Jan. 1. ...
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2012 in July. ...
"From our point of view, low-income workers will spend their [increased] wages locally, which will help the local economy," said Jim DeLuca, the general manager at the Abundance Cooperative Market, a natural products grocer in Rochester, N.Y.
The store increased its wage to $8.75 two years ago, a raise from the state minimum of $7.25, and the move hasn't affected business operations, the manager said. "It was an effort on our part to create a living wage model," DeLuca said.
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Jan. 22 proposal would increase New York's minimum wage to $8.75. The raise would benefit more than 1 million workers and create 25,000 jobs, according to a Fiscal Policy Institute report from January 2012.
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