Minimum Wage Hike Proposed: How Likely Is A Bump In Pay?

Some lawmakers have plans to raise the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.55 later this year, then step it up to $15.00 per hour by 2024, and subsequently increase it annually in relation to statistical data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. If this sounds familiar, it should, but we expect some more traction this time around.

Raise the Wage Act

Not surprisingly, Democrats have introduced the Raise the Wage Act (H.R. 582) in the U.S. House of Representatives and a companion bill (S. 150) in the U.S. Senate this week. In May 2017 we wrote about a similar measure that would move the minimum wage up to $15.00 in seven annual steps. Almost two years later the goal remains the same – and with two less annual steps such that the same net $7.75 increase would come about in a more compressed timeframe. It similarly includes both the gradual elimination of certain exceptions and credits and an indexing approach to future increases to the