Activists display in assist of a $15-per-hour minimal wage and ideas for restaurant staff in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 8, 2022.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Photos
Voters in each Nebraska and the District of Columbia on Tuesday accepted greater minimal wages, whereas the ends in an identical Nevada poll measure are nonetheless pending.
In D.C., voters accepted Initiative 82, a poll measure to extend the minimal wage for tipped staff to $16.10 per hour from the present $5.35 per hour by 2027, matching the ground for non-tipped staff.
And Nebraska voters supported Initiative 433, which will increase the state’s minimal wage to $15 per hour, up from $9 per hour, by 2026. The minimal wage will alter yearly primarily based on inflation after 2026.Â
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Votes for the Minimal Wage Modification in Nevada are nonetheless being tallied. But when accepted, the minimal wage would rise to $12 per hour by 2024, up from $9.50 or $10.50 per hour, relying on medical health insurance advantages.
Ben Zipperer, an economist on the Financial Coverage Institute, stated these outcomes align with previous state and native efforts, noting that elevating the minimal wage is “a particularly well-liked coverage initiative.”
He stated it exhibits there’s demand for will increase, even in “very pink states or pink areas,” pointing to Florida voters approving a minimum wage hike to $15 per hour through the 2020 presidential election.Â
40% of staff coated by $15 minimal hourly pay
Whereas President Joe Biden has supported a $15 minimal wage for all staff and signed an executive order for federal employees, the $7.25 federal minimal wage hasn’t modified since July 2009.
It has been the longest interval with no federal minimal wage enhance for the reason that regulation was enacted in 1938, in response to a recent analysis from the Financial Coverage Institute.Â
The worth of the federal minimal hourly price has reached its lowest point in 66 years amid hovering costs, primarily based on June inflation knowledge, the evaluation discovered.
However over the previous 20 years, many state and native efforts to spice up minimal wages have been profitable, Zipperer defined. At the moment, 30 states and the District of Columbia have minimal wages above the $7.25 federal hourly price, according to the Financial Coverage Institute.
The group estimates that roughly 40% of U.S. staff live in states that have already got a $15 minimal wage or will enhance to $15 within the close to future. Â
“That is a exceptional victory for advocates of low-wage staff, the ‘Combat for 15’ actions and people pursuing improved working situations for probably the most weak staff,” he stated.
