Workers outside of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester County will see an increase by $1.00 per hour, from $13.20 to $14.20. Additionally, the minimum wage for home care aides, which took effect on October 1, 2022, will also increase by $1.00 to $16.20 per hour in counties in upstate New York.

Governor Kathy Hochul said, “With inflation and a national labor shortage impacting our state’s economy, my team is doing everything possible to put money in New Yorkers’ pockets and address the rising cost of living.”

New York State Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon said, “By raising the minimum wage, we are helping to lift up our neighbors across New York State. Advancing the multi-year increases has helped businesses adjust to the steady changes while providing low-wage workers the ability to better support themselves and their families.”

Reardon issued an Order calling for the minimum wage rate increase in counties outside of New York City, Long Island, and Westchester following a statutorily required economic analysis conducted by the New York State Division of the Budget.

An estimated 200,000 New Yorkers in these upstate counties will benefit from this wage increase, 44% of which are full time workers and of those, nearly 25% are supporting children below age 18. In addition, this increase will help to close the gender pay gap, providing an estimated 110,000 women with greater financial stability.

To learn more about the minimum wage for home care aides, read the Home Care Aides Fact Sheet at https://dol.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2022/10/p105-home-health-aide-10-5-22.pdf

Workers who are not getting paid what they are entitled to under New York State’s new minimum wage laws, should report it to the State Department of Labor’s Division of Labor Standards by calling 1-888-469-7365.

In Upstate New York, workers will see a 70-cent increase to $13.20 an hour from the current rate of $12.50.

Minimum wage workers in Westchester County and in Long Island counties will see $15 an hour in the new year.

Fast food workers across New York also make $15 an hour, regardless of location.

The increases are part of New York’s minimum wage package, passed in 2016 by the state Legislature and then-Governor Andrew Cuomo with a five-year rising scale of wages, staggered across the state based on location.

USA Today reports the increase comes in the midst of the state’s ongoing economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, which stifled economic growth and snarled the job market.

Last year, some lawmakers and business groups decried the state’s decision to raise the minimum wage as scheduled, saying it would maim struggling businesses trying to come out of the worst of the pandemic.

At the time, the state argued that low-wage workers were some of the hardest hit in 2020, particularly in the hospitality and retail sectors, and therefore they should receive a bump in pay.

This year, in its annual review of the state economy to determine whether a wage increase is warranted, New York’s Division of the Budget again found that the low-wage sector was the most severely impacted by the pandemic.

The state said 1 million jobs, or 57% of the private sector losses, were impacted in the three industries where minimum wage workers are most concentrated: retail, health care and hospitality.

Nationally, President Joe Biden signed an executive order in April, requiring a $15 an hour minimum wage for federal contractors starting on January 30, 2022.