Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

Minimum wage hikes have varying effects across nation

Justin Ho Dec 31, 2018
HTML EMBED:
COPY
Workers celebrate outside the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles on April 4, 2016, after California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that will raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Minimum wage hikes have varying effects across nation

Justin Ho Dec 31, 2018
Workers celebrate outside the Ronald Reagan State Building in downtown Los Angeles on April 4, 2016, after California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that will raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Starting in 2019, 20 states and 21 cities throughout the U.S. are hiking their minimum wages. But if the goal is reducing poverty, the minimum wage is a blunt instrument. Low-wage workers aren’t always poor, some are teens earning extra spending cash for example, but increasing the minimum wage can have outsized effects in states where the cost of living is lower.

Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.