Skip to main content
Affordable Employee Training Exclusively for NJBIA Members LEARN MORE

Whether or not $15 minimum wage is enacted before the end of the year, New Jersey’s minimum wage will go up on Jan. 1. The current law requires cost of living increases, so New Jersey’s minimum wage will go up to $8.85 an hour.

New Jersey is far from the only state with minimum wages higher than the federal rate of $7.25. Jackson Lewis recently inventoried the different state-level wage increases taking effect in 2019. It’s a good look at where New Jersey stands.

“Many minimum wage increases scheduled for next year stem from statutes passed in 2016 or earlier that included pre-determined annual “stepped” increases or potential annual increases based on a particular consumer price index (CPI),” Jackson Lewis attorneys Jeffrey Brecher and Richard Greenberg explain. “But several new states that enacted increases this year (i.e., Delaware, Massachusetts, Arkansas, and Missouri) joined the club as a result of successful voter initiatives.”

Read more.