Raising the Minimum Wage

In 1970, the state minimum wage was $1.85. Since that time, consumer prices
have grown at an average annual rate of approximately 4%.1

If the minimum wage had grown at the national rate of inflation since 1970, it
would be about $11.30 today. Thus the current minimum wage of $8.75 is $2.55
below the level it would be if it was indexed to national inflation.

By the start of 2023, using DOBs economic forecast for 2015 through 2023, the
inflation adjusted minimum wage would reach $13.70.

The cost of living varies across New York for low income families. Based on the
Census Bureaus Supplemental Poverty Measure, the cost of living in the upstate
New York metropolitan areas is below the national average, while for the New
York City metropolitan area, it is about 20 percent higher. Adjusting for this
regional difference results in a New York City minimum wage of $14.89 by the
beginning of 2019.

A population weighted average of the Census Bureau data for the remainder of
the State implies a cost of living that is about 8 percent higher than the national
average. Adjusting for this regional difference results in a minimum wage of
approximately $14.41 by the beginning of 2022.

RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE

Rest of State

Date of Increase
December 31, 2014
December 31, 2015
December 31, 2016
December 31, 2017
December 31, 2018
December 31, 2019
December 31, 2020
July 1, 2021

Calendar
Implied by
Year in Effect Inflation*
2015
$12.18
2016
$12.43
2017
$12.72
2018
$13.04
2019
$13.37
2020
$13.72
2021H1
$14.06
2021H2/2022
$14.41
2023
$14.78

Proposed
$8.75
$9.75
$10.75
$11.75
$12.75
$13.75
$14.50
$15.00
$15.00

New York City

Implied by
Inflation*
$13.56
$13.84
$14.16
$14.52
$14.89
$15.27
$15.66
$16.05
$16.45

Proposed
$8.75
$10.50
$12.00
$13.50
$15.00
$15.00
$15.00
$15.00
$15.00

Note: Regional adjustments derived from U.S. Census Bureau Supplemental Poverty M easure.

The national rate of inflation averaged 6.3 percent between 1970 and 1990 and 2.5 percent between 1990
and 2014; inflation of 0.2 percent and 2.0 percent is estimated for 2015 and 2016, respectively, and is
projected to average 2.5 percent for the remainder of the forecast horizon.