Starting Off The New Year Right

It's January 1, meaning a whole host of changes to state laws take effect today, among them 18 states are bumping up their minimum wages.

Many of the wage hikes are phased-in steps toward an ultimately higher wage, the product of ballot initiatives pushed by unions and workers rights groups over the last few years.

The minimum wage in Washington state will rise to $11.50 an hour, up 50 cents and the highest statewide minimum in the nation. Over the next three years, the wage will rise to $13.50 an hour, thanks to a ballot measure approved by voters in 2016.

Mainers will see their minimum wages rise the most, from $9 an hour to $10 an hour, an 11 percent increase. Voters approved a ballot measure in 2016 that will eventually raise the wage to $12 an hour by 2020.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont will see their minimum wages increase by at least 50 cents an hour. Smaller increases take effect in Alaska, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio and South Dakota.

Jared Bernstein, a former chief economic advisor to Vice President Joe Biden and a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said states have been more willing to raise minimum wages because those who take low-wage jobs are more likely to be better educated now than they were in the past, a sign of an economy where fewer high-wage jobs are available.

"As the population of low wage workers has become a bit more upscale, many places are willing to adjust their minimum wages, especially given the pervasive research that supports moderate increases," Bernstein said in an interview. "States and localities have been increasingly willing to raise their own minimum wages as the federal value has been stuck at $7.25."

Well, mostly blue states, at least.  Around here, Kentucky and Indiana remain stuck at $7.25, Ohio will edge up from $8.15 to $8.30.  Plenty of cities will see boosts to wages, mostly on the West Coast, while half of US states as of today now have laws preventing cities from raising minimum wages above state figures.

Ohio is getting a minimum wage increase ballot initiative, as is Michigan, that could be on the ballot in November.  We'll see.  But at least some states recognize that $7.25 an hour isn't a livable wage.