ALBANY – As expected, the state Assembly Tuesday approved a bill that calls for increasing the state’s minimum wage to $9 an hour – a $1.75 increase from the current rate of $7.25 an hour. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said afterward that the increase in minimum wage is simply a response to the current of inflation, adding that Assembly Democrats – who largely backed the bill – believe poverty is not a fair reward for those who work a full-time job.
However, despite approval in the Assembly, the Albany Times Union is reporting this morning that the bill is dead on arrival in the State Senate and it’s interpreted more as a political statement by Silver than anything else. Republicans in both the Senate and Assembly contend the vast majority of the people on minimum wage are teenagers and second-job holders in a family.
Currently, a full-time worker in New York state being paid minimum wage brings in just over $15,000 a year.
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