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NJ Minimum Wage Will Rise to $8.38 Per Hour, Effective January 1st

By David Madden

TRENTON, N.J. (CBS) -- With the arrival of the new year comes a bump in New Jersey's minimum wage.  But not a big one.

In 2013, New Jersey voters approved a $1 increase in the state's minimum wage, to $8.25.  The measure also called for annual cost-of-living hikes.

This first cost-of-living adjustment ("COLA") will be just 13 cents an hour.

Gordon MacInnes, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, says about 170,000 people across New Jersey will get that increase.

MacInnes_Gordon headshot
Gordon MacInnes of New Jersey Policy Perspective. Photo provided)

"If they work full-time, making 260 bucks more a year will be gratefully received but it won't change their status," he notes.   "They'll still be struggling and striving to survive in a very high cost place."

The State of Delaware will hike its minimum wage this coming June to $8.25 an hour.

Pennsylvania's minimum wage is still at the federally mandated $7.25 an hour.

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