This morning, Monday January 30, 2012 it is expected that New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will introduce a bill to raise the minimum wage in NYS from $7.25 to $8.50. This is one part of Sheldon Silver’s 2012 projects. At this time there is no timeline given for the increase.
Currently NYS uses the federal guidelines of Minimum Wage. There have been some states who recently have raised their minimum wage in the very recent past. Delaware is one such state which increased the minimum wage from $7.25 to $7.75 which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013 and then another .50 cent hike on Jan 1, 2014.
Proponents of this bill, believe this economy is the wrong time to add more expense to business. They believe the government should be trying to create jobs, not introduce bills which may very well stymie any progress made. Also they believe the after effects are people who are making $8.00 or $9.00 an hour will be requesting a raise, which in turn will cost companies more money.
This bill will probably be hotly contested and should be watched in the coming days.