As the United States entered the new year, New York's minimum wage increased statewide at the stroke of midnight.
Minimum wage workers in the Empire State received a raise in pay of between 80 cents to a dollar this year, the first in a series of gradual increases expected over the coming years.
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The minimum wage for workers in New York City and some of its surrounding suburbs was increased from $15 to $16.
For the rest of the state, the minimum wage rose from $14.20 to $15. Wages will continue to increase annually until minimum wage employees are paid $17 in New York City and $16 in the rest of the state.
The process is expected to be finished by 2026.
Further increases to keep up with inflation will be tied to fluctuations in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.
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Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul worked with the New York state legislature on the wage increase plan, which saw criticism from business owners who claimed the rising minimum wage would force some businesses under.
Other Democrats to the left of Hochul argued the wage increase did not go far enough.
