New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a minimum wage hike for the state Sunday, plus an additional increase for New York City.
Cuomo’s plan would raise the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour in New York City and $10.50 an hour in the rest of the state, the New York Times reported.
New York last increased the minimum wage back in 2013, approving a three-year plan that would increase the hourly rate from $7.25 to its current rate of $8.75 to $9 in 2016.
Cuomo said that he believes this rate of increase is too slow. Under his proposal, the wage would increase to $11.50 New York City and $10.50 for the rest of the state at the end of 2016.
“The cost of living is higher in New York City,” Cuomo said. “And that should be accounted for.”
This would be the first time NYC would be allowed a different rate than the rest of the state, the Times reported.
But Cuomo also made sure to note that he did not think local governments should have the ability to set their own minimum wages. Though New York City’s will be one of the highest in the country, most of the other high minimum wage cities are done at the local level like the $15 minimum wage in Seattle.
Cuomo said he thinks doing so could lead to a “chaotic situation.” This was a dig at NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had suggested in his 2014 State of the City address that he would ask the legislature for permission to set a higher minimum wage for the city, the Times noted.
Cuomo’s proposal is expected to face pushback in the state legislature, particularly in the Republican-led state Senate.
“The world has changed,” Cuomo told the Times when asked about past Republican opposition. “The market is strong and I believe the market, this market, at this rate of strength, can deal with this.”
