If you are an hourly employee who works in New York, you will soon see a few more cents in your paycheck because a minimum wage increase is coming by the end of the year.

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Right now, hourly employees in New York state who work in areas outside of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County are paid a minimum hourly wage of $12.50. By December 31, that amount will rise to a minimum of $13.20, a 70 cent increase.

According to the Department of Labor, the hourly minimum wage pay increase is to enable "low-wage workers to continue to afford the same basket of goods and services and then some based on rising productivity."

Employers all across the state of New York have been affected by a shortage of employees. The problem is so bad that the New York State Department of Labor made mention that job postings are at an all-time high in New York.

When the $15 minimum wage was implemented for hourly employees in New York City, employees who worked in counties outside of Long Island and Westchester were making $11.80 an hour. At the end of 2020, that amount rose 70 cents to $12.50.

Why another minimum pay increase in only a year's time? "Companies, particularly those that employ low-wage workers, are already raising wages and in some cases offering incentives to hire amid a labor shortage that is showing no sign of abating, and it makes sense to raise the wage floor now," said New York State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon.

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