20 States to See Minimum Wage Increase in 2015

After years of organizing and demonstrating by labor advocates that led to successful ballot measures increasing the minimum wage, 20 states will see their minimum wages increase in 2015.

Bloomberg reports that the increase is a combination of both outright increases in the wage through ballot measures or legislative action, while in 9 states the wage will increase because it is linked to inflation.

Raising the minimum wage is broadly popular among both political parties and has the support of President Barack Obama who seeks to have the federal minimum wage, effectively the lowest minimum wage allowed, increased to $10.10 from the current $7.25. The level of $7.25 was set in 2009.

Bloomberg notes that raising the minimum wage is so politically popular that is has never lost when placed on a ballot for voters.

Washington State will have the highest minimum wage in the country at $9.47. Washington has been a hotbed of activity to increase the minimum wage. The community hosting the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport voted to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. In Seattle, the local government also approved a gradual increase to a $15 minimum.  

San Francisco also approved a gradual increase to $15 while Chicago passed a law that will see its minimum wage gradually rise to $13 an hour. Bloomberg says a measure to gradually increase the Los Angeles minimum wage to $13.25 an hour is currently working its way through the city government.

In 2015, approximately 60% percent of the US population will live in cities or states that have a minimum wage above the federal level, according to Bloomberg. Businesses claim that the higher wages will cause them to reduce hiring, but the Department of Labor has said that an increase will benefit everyone by increasing demand, because the wage is effectively worth 20% less than in the 1980s.