The Empire State rings in the new year with a pay bump for minimum-wage workers

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York's minimum wage workers had more than just the new year to celebrate Monday, with a pay increase as the clock ticked to 2024.

In the first of a series of annual increases for the Empire State, the minimum wage in New York City and some suburbs rose from $15 to $16. In the rest of the state, the new minimum wage is $15, up from $14.20.

The state's minimum wage is expected to rise every year until it reaches $17 in New York City and its suburbs in 2026, and $16 in the rest of the state. Future increases will be linked to the consumer price index for urban wage earners and white-collar workers. , a measure of inflation.

New York is one of 22 states set to see a minimum wage increase this new year, according to a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute.

In California, the minimum wage rose from $15.50 to $16, while in Connecticut it rose from $15 to $15.69.

This latest wage increase in New York is part of an agreement struck last year between Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature. The deal came despite the objections of some employers, as well as some liberal Democrats who said it didn't go high enough.

The federal minimum wage in the United States has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009, but states and some localities are free to set higher amounts. Thirty states, including New Mexico and Washington, have done so.