Minimum Wage In 2020: A Look At The 24 States Set To Raise It

A new report says over 20 states across the U.S. are set to raise the minimum wage to $15 at some point in 2020

The report comes courtesy of the National Employment Law Project, which provided details into the pay boost coming to 24 states in 2020. Author Yannet Lathrop says starting on Jan. 1, 2020, the minimum wage will be increased across 21 states and 26 cities and counties. At least 17 of the states will immediately raise the minimum wage to $15/hour on Jan. 1, while four other states will do so later in 2020.

“In total, 24 states and 48 cities and counties will raise their minimum wages sometime in 2020,” Lathrop says.

The raise comes at a time as workers making minimum wage demand pay raises to keep up with the increased cost of living in the U.S. The House of Representatives approved legislation in July that would raise the federal minimum from $7.25/hour to $15/hour by 2025, but the bill has become trapped in the Senate as the Republican majority has refused to take up debate on it.

However, a study published in July by the Congressional Budget Office said a $15 federal minimum would increase bay for over 25 million employees.

“It’s been very difficult,” McDonald’s employee Milly Hobbs told USA Today. “And this time of year it’s even more stressful.”

Hobbs is a resident of Kansas City, Missouri, who shares a three-bedroom apartment with five other people, including her mother. She explains how she has struggled to get by on $9/hour with grocery shopping and very few clothes, but a raise to $9.45/hour will help pay her phone bill, replace her glasses, and start saving for a car.

Lathrop credits the Fight for $15 movement as a major reason for the pay increases about to take effect.

“The continued success of the Fight for $15 movement, demonstrated once again by the record number of jurisdictions set to increase their minimum wage rates in 2020, should suggest to any lawmakers who continue to resist raises that their opposition is futile,” Lathrop says. “With each passing day, and with each additional victory of the Fight for $15, it becomes increasingly clear that workers need raises, and that the people believe that we can and should raise the floor.”

States with recent or ongoing minimum wage preemption repeal efforts include Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia.