The minimum wage is going up to $13.20 an hour in New York State starting December 31st. The state Department of Labor said the increase coincides with the increase to $15 an hour on Long Island and Westchester County.
The state DOL had authority under state law this year to raise the minimum wage above its current rate of $12.50 an hour outside New York City and its immediate suburbs. The agency said the increase is the result of “evidence of pressure for wages to rise in the midst of a pandemic-driven labor shortage.”
The minimum wage was already set to rise December 31st from $14 an hour to 15 per hour on Long Island and in Westchester. But the increase in the rest of the state is new after the state Legislature passed a scale in 2016 to increase the minimum wage over the next five years, first hitting $15 an hour in New York City at the end of 2018 for large employers.
The state Division of Budget was required to review the economy and decide whether New York should increase the minimum wage on December 31st across parts of the Hudson Valley and upstate.
The review found that the low-wage sector was the most severely impacted by the pandemic. The state said 1 million jobs, or 57% of the private sector losses, were impacted in the three industries where minimum wage workers are most concentrated: retail, health care and hospitality.
The labor department said further increases past 2022 would be based the state annual review of the economy.
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