Gov. Ned Lamont announced in a press conference Monday that the Connecticut minimum wage will increase to $15.69 next year. Beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, the state’s minimum wage will increase by 69 cents from the current rate of $15.
“The minimum wage for many years remained stagnant,” said Lamont, “making existing pay disparities even worse and preventing hardworking families from obtaining financial security.”
“That is why several years ago I signed a bill into law enacting several increases in the minimum wage and then ultimately attaching it to federal economic indicators so that as the economy grows the wages of low-income workers can grow with it,” continued Lamont. “This is a fair, modest increase and the money earned will be spent right back into our own economy and support local businesses.”
The minimum wage increase is a result of the state’s newly enacted economic indicator adjustment, which is required under a state law Lamont signed in 2019. The new law (Public Act 19-4) implemented five incremental increases in the minimum wage between 2019 and 2023, followed by future adjustments that are tied to the percentage change in the federal employment cost index.
“We’re providing financial security to our families, especially our women and people of color who tend to be our minimum wage workers,” said Lt. Gov Susan Bysiewicz. “An estimated 61 percent of women in Connecticut and 49 percent people of color earn the minimum wage.”
“The Center for American progress estimates that more than 114,000 children in Connecticut live in households with a worker making less than $15 an hour,” continued Bysiewicz, “so our efforts to raise the minimum wage, but also to ensure that it grows as our economy does, are really an important step to lifting our families out of poverty.”
Bysiewicz added that there are over 170,000 families in Connecticut where women are the main breadwinners and are making minimum wage.
Beginning on Jan. 1, 2024, and occurring annually each Jan. 1 thereafter, the state’s minimum wage will be adjusted according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s calculation of the employment cost index for the 12-month period ending on June 30 of the preceding year.
Connecticut Labor Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo reports that the employment cost index increased by 4.6 percent over the 12-month period ending on June 30, accounting for a $0.69 increase to the state’s minimum wage that will become effective in January.
“This increase will benefit Connecticut’s 160,000 to 200,000 minimum wage workers and help offset some of the effects of national economic challenges, such as higher energy costs and interest rates,” said Bartolomeo.
Moving forward Connecticut workers and employers may anticipate announcements by Oct. 15 of each year declaring the change in the minimum wage that will become effective on Jan. 1 of the following year.
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