On January 1st Virginia’s minimum wage will move from $11/hr to $12/hr.
When Virginia lawmakers voted to raise the minimum wage back in 2020, it was estimated 400,000 workers would be impacted. David Broder is president of a service workers union.
“We’re going to see home care workers benefit. We’re going to see childcare workers benefit. We’re going to see workers in retail and food service,” Broder said in a recent interview. “But what unites so many of these workers is that they are predominantly women, that they are predominantly Black, brown, immigrants, and API (Asian Pacific Islander).”
The minimum wage is set to max out at $15 an hour by 2026. Lawmakers will need to vote again to approve that final jump. That means the results of next year’s state elections could impact whether Virginia’s minimum wage ever hits $15.
“Every member of the legislature that’s going to be voting again on whether or not to increase the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour. Every one of them is up for election,” said Broder.
According to researchers at MIT– a livable wage for a single adult in Virginia right now is $19.40/hr. Make that a single adult raising a child and it’s $36.20/hr.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
