By Christopher Rugaber
Associated Press (AP), July 8, 2022

WASHINGTON (AP) — A strong hiring report for June has assuaged fears that the U.S. economy might be on the cusp of a recession — and highlighted the resilience of the nation’s job market. ...

John Schall, the owner of a Boston-based Tex-Mex restaurant chain called El Jefe’s Taqueria, is enjoying strong sales growth and says he’s optimistic about his business. He plans to open his eighth restaurant next week in Pittsburgh. Schall has hired five managers there and will add up to 30 hourly workers.

Having opened...

By Lorie Konish
CNBC, July 7, 2022

Workers earning minimum wage are getting an income boost in some parts of the U.S., thanks to new higher minimum pay rates that went into effect in July.

Connecticut, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, D.C., all had new higher minimum wages as of July 1. Those increases come as the federal minimum wage stands at $7.25 per hour, unchanged since 2009.

President Joe Biden has advocated for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour for all workers. In January, an executive order he signed that raised the...

KETV, ABC 7 (Omaha), July 7, 2022

A petition submitted Thursday morning would put the issue of the minimum wage on the ballot in November. ... The proposed measure would gradually increase the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026.

One Lincoln business owner said this will help everyone.

"Fair wages make a business stronger, they also make our economy and our community stronger. A person working full-time for Nebraska's current $9 minimum wage earns just $18,700 a year. You cannot get by on that," Alma Ceretta said.

Read more and SEE VIDEO

The group wants to raise Nebraska’s minimum wage to $15/hour by 2026.

By 10/11 Now
KOLN-TV (10/11 - CBS), July 7, 2022. Also WOWT-TV NBC 6 (Omaha), KNOP-TV NBC 2 (North Platte), KSNB NBC 4 (Hastings)

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Raise the Wage Nebraska (RTWN) submitted petitions containing more than 150,000 signatures to the Nebraska Secretary of State on Thursday. ...

“Raising the minimum wage is a win/win for businesses and workers,” said Dave Titterington, owner of Wild Bird Habitat Stores in Lincoln and Omaha. “When you pay employees a living wage, they’re happier, they’re more dedicated...

By Don Walton and Chris Dunker
Lincoln Journal Star, July 7, 2022 

... Raise the Wage Nebraska had its own news conference earlier Thursday where it announced it had gathered more than 160,000 signatures on a petition to gradually raise Nebraska’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026. That's nearly double the required number of signatures it needed. It also said it had gathered names from voters in all 93 counties across the state. ...

The campaign also found backing from several business owners, who said ensuring workers could earn a livable wage produced better...

By Paul Hammel
Nebraska Examiner, July 7, 2022. Also in the North Platte Post, Hastings Tribune, Norfolk Daily News, Doniphan Herald.

LINCOLN — Leaders for an initiative to raise Nebraska’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026 said Thursday they had submitted 160,000 signatures to qualify the issue for the November ballot.

About 87,500 signatures of registered voters are needed to put the issue before voters, so 160,000 should be more than enough to qualify. About 10% to 15% of signatures are typically thrown out on petition drives, for various reasons, such as the...

By Jessica Salinas
Fox 42, Omaha, July 7, 2022

Omaha, Neb. — Today, Raise the Wage Nebraska is one step closer to being on the November ballot. They turned in more than double the signatures they needed. This initiative is looking to raise the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour by 2026.

WATCH VIDEO for interview with Raygun LLC owner Mike Draper.

By  Art Raymond
Deseret News, July 2, 2022. Also KSL radio (Salt Lake City).

As record high U.S. inflation continues to have the most severe impacts on lower income individuals and families, new hourly minimum wage standards went into effect on Friday in 20 states, cities and counties across the country.

While minimum wage thresholds are now above the $7.25 per hour federal minimum in 30 states and the District of Columbia, 20 states, including Utah, continue to match the federal rate, which has remained unchanged since it moved from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour back in...

By Michael Lyle
Nevada Current, July 1, 2022. Also Nevada Patch, News from the States

As Nevadans struggle to afford rising costs and skyrocketing rents, minimum wage workers will receive a slight bump in their pay. Beginning July 1, the state’s minimum wage increases to $10.50, up from $9.75, for workers not offered health coverage. Employees offered health care will now make $9.50, up from $8.75. 

Nevada’s wage increase is lower than other places scheduled to see a boost to wages July 1, according to the national organization Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. ...

In...

By Aimee Picchi
CBS News MoneyWatch, June 30, 2022

Workers in more than 20 states, cities and counties will get a wage boost on July 1 when higher minimum wages kick in — part of a nationwide push to ensure the nation's lowest-paid workers are keeping up with the rising cost of living. ...

The hikes come as the federal minimum wage nears the 13th anniversary of its last increase, marking the longest period without an increase since the baseline wage was created in 1938. There are still 20 states, mostly in the South and...

By Emma Ockerman
MarketWatch, June 30, 2022. Also MSN, Morningstar, more

Starting July 1, workers in several states will be entitled to a higher minimum wage.

Thanks to a law enacted three years ago, Connecticut residents who currently make $13 an hour will get a raise to $14. Meanwhile, non-tipped workers in In Washington, D.C., will start making an hourly wage of $16.10. Oregon workers will also start to earn a minimum wage of $13.50, though, due to a tiered-wage system, rural residents will earn a dollar less and Portland metro residents will earn $1.25...

By Tom Beck
Chestnut Hill Local (PA), June 15, 2022

Pennsylvania Labor and Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier visited The Night Kitchen Bakery & Cafe in Chestnut Hill June 9 to promote raising of the state’s minimum wage, which is currently at the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. The wage hasn’t been raised since 2009. ...

Amy Edelman, who co-owns The Night Kitchen with her husband, John Millard, and pays her employees about $15 per hour on average with benefits, said she hosted the event because when people earn more, they have more money to...

MyChesCo (Chester County, PA), June 11, 2022

Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry (L&I) Secretary Jennifer Berrier on Thursday continued her statewide push for legislative action to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage during a visit to Philadelphia’s Night Kitchen Bakery & Cafe, a business that supports Governor Tom Wolf’s proposal to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour with a pathway to $15.

"We are in the City of Brotherly Love, but love is, unfortunately, the last thing we have been showing the thousands of workers still earning the pitiful minimum wage in Pennsylvania of just $7.25...

By Hadas Kuznits
KYW Newsradio, June 10, 2022

PHILADELPHIA -- In the final months of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration, Labor and Industry Secretary Jennifer Berrier visited a Chestnut Hill bakery to tout the importance of raising the state’s minimum wage, a measure that’s a part of his state budget proposal. The current rate of $7.25 — which hasn’t been raised since the federal government’s hike in 2009 — isn’t even a living wage, Berrier said. ...

Berrier made her case at Night Kitchen on Germantown Avenue Thursday, a bakery that’s only several miles and a brief drive to...

Op-Ed By David Bolotsky
Register-Star / HudsonValley360, June 6, 2022. Also Daily Mail.

As a New York business owner, I am invested in our workforce and invested in our state’s economy. That’s why I support raising the minimum wage.

Low-paid frontline workers have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and they are getting hit hard by rising prices. If New York lawmakers don’t raise the minimum wage, they will get left behind again. That’s bad for workers and businesses.

The pandemic has made it clearer than ever that businesses paying low wages have more...