With the New Year came an increase in the minimum wage for most New Jersey employees.
The new minimum wage will be $14.13 per hour, up from $13.
The increase is part of legislation signed by Governor Phil Murphy in February 2019 that gradually raises the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2024 for most employees.
In 2018, the state’s minimum wage was $8.60 per hour. Under a law signed in 2019, the minimum wage increases by $1 per hour each year – or more if warranted because of significant increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
“Putting our minimum wage on a clear path to $15 an hour and setting us among the nation’s leading states remains one of my proudest moments,” said Governor Murphy. “This increase will ensure that hundreds of thousands of hardworking people across our state are paid a wage that allows them to provide for their families and live with greater dignity.”
The New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) sets the minimum wage for the coming year using the rate specified in the law or a calculation based on the CPI, whichever is higher. Once the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour, the State Constitution specifies that it continue to increase annually based on any increase in the CPI.
Under the law, seasonal and small employers with fewer than six employees were given until 2026 to pay their workers $15 per hour. The minimum hourly wage for these employees increased to $12.93/hour, up from $11.90.
Tipped workers’ cash wage will increase to $5.26/hour, with employers able to claim an $8.87 tip credit, an increase in the maximum allowable tip credit of $1.
Information on the rights and protections of tipped workers is available here.
Additional information on the state minimum wage is available here.
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash