Minimum Wage – A decade of Increases in Massachusetts

The Minimum Wage Varies Considerably By State – Massachusetts is Among the Highest

A decade ago in 2013, the Federal Minimum Wage was $7.25, having been raised in 2009. As of 2023, it is still $7.25. It was $8 in Massachusetts. Today’s it’s $15.

Today in 2023 –

20 states, including New Hampshire, still maintain a minimum wage of $7.25. 15 states and Puerto Rico have minimum wages ranging from $8.50 to $12.00. 15 states and the District of Columbia are from $13.00 to $16.10. With Massachusetts at $15.00 it is the 4^th highest, with California at $15.50, Washington State at $15.74, and the District of Columbia at $16.10.

Questions have come up in the City of Gardner as it pays its DPW laborers $15.92 per hour. While recent inflation has certainly increased costs for families, the labor rates in Massachusetts are higher than more than 92% of the entire U.S. The practical ability to tax residents so that municipal wages could be higher is not only limited by Proposition 2 ½, but by the reality that the minimum wage in Massachusetts which was $8.00 in 2013 and $15.00 now, has risen much faster than the actual cost of living has gone up in most of the 10 year period.

If the City wanted to be much more competitive, taxes would have to go up and that’s not something anyone really likes at any time. In reality, if people weren’t getting paid a minimum of $15 per hour due to Massachusetts unusual wage increases over the past decade, the $15.92 would be praised as being very competitive.