State Sen. Andres Ayala, D-Bridgeport, joined Gov. Dannel P. Malloy at an event in Bridgeport recently to call for an increase in Connecticut”™s minimum wage.
The proposed 2014 legislation would bring the state minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by 2017.
As of Jan. 1, 21 states, including Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., had minimum wages above the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
Connecticut is currently $8.70 per hour and New York $8 per hour. Washington is most generous at $9.32 per hour.
Nineteen states have minimum wages the same as the federal minimum wage and four are below that threshold: Georgia and Wyoming bottom out at $5.15 per hour.
New Hampshire repealed its minimum wage statutes in 2011, but abides by the federal level.
Four southern states ”“ South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana ”“ have no minimum-wage laws on the books.
“The working people across my district and Connecticut deserve the opportunity to earn a fair wage that they can use to support their families and better themselves,” Ayala said. “Contrary to popular belief, most minimum wage earners are not teenagers at part-time jobs, but adults holding down two to three jobs to earn a living. I support today”™s call to raise the minimum wage so that all of Connecticut”™s hard-working people earn a wage they can survive on.”
