Starting next year, Connecticut’s minimum wage will increase 66 cents, from $15.69 to $16.35 per hour, according to an announcement made by Governor Ned Lamont earlier today. This increase will give Connecticut the third highest statewide minimum wage, behind only California and Washington state (and not including Washington, D.C.).
“This law that we enacted ensures that as the economy grows, the wages of low-income workers can grow with it,” said Governor Lamont. “This is a fair, modest adjustment for workers who will invest their earnings right back into our economy and support local businesses in their communities.”
The raise comes as the result of Public Act 19-4, signed into law in 2019, which stipulated that, as of 2024, the state’s minimum wage would be adjusted annually in tandem with any percentage change in the federal employment cost index (FECI). FECI is calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor each year and is a metric that measures the change in hourly labor costs to employers overtime. The 66-cent increase follows the 4.2% increase measured by the Department of Labor over the past 12 months.
The 2019 bill mandates Connecticut’s Labor Commissioner, now Danté Bartolomeo, to review the yearly percentage change in FECI and announce wage adjustments by October 15 of each year. Bartolomeo noted the impact that an increased minimum wage would have on women in particular, which according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, make up 60% of the state’s minimum wage workforce.
“Minimum wage increases help ensure that no Connecticut worker gets left behind,” said Commissioner Bartolomeo. “The majority of minimum wage earners are women, and many have families. Giving them this increase is good policy that supports Connecticut workers and the local economy.”
The impact of increased minimum wages is a hotly contested one; while proponents argue that it helps to give lower income citizens a fighting chance at keeping up with inflation, opponents argue that it only serves to accelerate inflation further. Connecticut Voices for Children’s 2024 Working Connecticut report credited the 2019 bill with increasing lower-income residents’ wages at a rate that far exceeded the national average since it was first implemented, while business owners surveyed in the CBIA’s 2024 business survey marked heightened labor costs as a significant reason for their belief that the cost of business has risen over the past year.
“The minimum wage was established to provide a fair, livable baseline of income for those who work,” said Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz. “But, for too long, while the nation’s economy grew, the income of minimum wage workers stayed flat, making already existing pay disparities even worse, especially for the already economically disadvantaged. This is a policy that benefits everyone and provides more financial security to families, especially women and people of color.”
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Min wage is form of price control and price controls do not work although they provide feel good comments for politicians. The Goldilocks reality of min wage is it is either set too low (doesn’t matter), too high (less employment for those you are trying to help), or just right (what’s the chance of govt doing that?). For the sake of workers starting at the min wage, I hope it’s not too high and they pay the price so clueless pols can pat themselves on the back.