US NEWS
Which US states will have the lowest minimum wages in 2023?
The dawn of a new year heralds legislation to boost the minimum wage in a number of states, but not all of them.
Debate has raged for years on what is to be done about the minimum wage in the US. It has not changed since 2009 and sits at $7.25 an hour, an unliveable amount for Americans in an era of abnormally high inflation. According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), workers on the federal minimum wage have as much purchasing power as someone in the 1950s
President Biden had campaigned on a $15 minimum wage in 2020 but no movement has been made on the issue.
While the federal minimum wage has been stuck at its current level, since 2014 over two dozen states and Washington DC have raised their own base hourly wage.
Currently there are just over a half a dozen states that have a minimum wage over $13 per hour. But through indexing and scheduled increases that number will grow to at least 14, including DC, in 2023. These are primarily in the Northeast and on the West Coast.
However, none of the states with the lowest minimum wage of $7.25 are changing for 2023.
States with a $7.25 minimum wage
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Idaho
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Five states do not have a state minimum wage and use the federal minimal instead. These are: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Will any of these states be increasing their minimum wage?
Not one of the states paying a minimum of $7.25 an hour will be increasing their minimum wage in 2023.