July 1, 2019-NJ’S MINIMUM WAGES RISES TO $10 TODAY IN FIRST STEP TOWARD $15

The law increasing New Jersey’s minimum wage from the current $8.85 bears first fruit today

Today more than 200,000 New Jerseyans are getting a raise to $10 an hour, the first in the state’s multi-year move toward a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

The Democratic-controlled Legislature passed and Gov. Phil Murphy signed the new wage into law five months ago as a way to provide all workers with a living wage in one of the highest-cost states in the nation. Last year’s ALICE report from the United Way of Northern New Jersey found that close to 40 percent of all households in the state, or 1.2 million, were either living in poverty or working poor and unable to afford such basic needs as food, clothing and shelter, with ALICE defined as Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. Read more