Nearly half of America’s states are increasing their minimum wage in 2021

JOE BIDEN, America's president-elect, campaigned on a promise to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour. Although the odds of such an outcome are slim, especially if the Democrats fail to win a Senate majority in the run-off elections in Georgia on January 5th, it may not matter. According to a new report by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), an American lobby group, efforts to raise the minimum wage at the state and local level continue apace.

Over the course of 2021, two dozen states will have increased their minimum wage rates. Virginia will apply the biggest boost. It is raising its wage floor this year by 31%, from $7.25 an hour to $9.50, as part of its plan to increase it to $12 by 2023. Workers in Minnesota will get the stingiest pay rise, from $8.15 to $8.21 for small employers and from $10 to $10.08 for large ones—an average increase of less than 1%.