The Assembly Labor Committee is expected to consider legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, according to the committee schedule.
Gov. Phil Murphy and New Jersey’s top legislative leaders finally reached an agreement last week to boost the minimum wage to $15 by 2024. Some sectors — farm workers, seasonal workers and employees at small businesses — would have to wait longer to reach that threshold.
A copy of the bill is not yet available.
Under terms of the agreement, the current $8.85 statewide minimum wage would increase to $10 an hour on July 1, 2019, and to $11 an hour by Jan. 1, 2020. It would then increase by $1 an hour every Jan. 1 until reaching $15 on Jan. 1, 2024.
For seasonal workers and employees at businesses of five workers or fewer, the minimum wage would reach $15 by Jan. 1, 2026. By Jan. 1, 2028, these exempt groups will earn the same wage as the nonexempt groups, including adjustments that were made for inflation.
Farm workers would see their base minimum wage rise to $12.50 an hour by Jan. 1, 2024. At that point, the state labor commissioner and secretary of agriculture would jointly decide whether to recommend that the wage increase to $15 an hour by 2027.