New Jersey lawmakers reached an agreement Thursday to raise its minimum wage to $15 by 2024.
Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy and the Democrats who lead the state Legislature disagreed over which workers should be included in the wage increase, NJ.com reports.
The new plan would raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour on July 1, $11 an hour in 2020, $12 an hour in 2021, $13 in 2022, $14 in 2023 and $15 in 2024.
{mosads}Those in the state legislature called for exceptions to be made for some employers, including small businesses and farmers.
“I’m sorry it took as long as it did, but I think we came up with a really good compromise,” Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D) said. “It took forever, but we got it done.”
“This is a big, big step forward for New Jersey. And particularly, it’s responsible,” Murphy said during a virtual town hall. “We are changing the lives of a million workers in this state. I can’t stress that enough.”
The state Senate and state Assembly still need to pass a bill that needs to signed into law by Murphy.
Democrats in the national House and Senate proposed a bill Tuesday to raise the federal minimum wage to $15.
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has not increased in a decade and was based on legislation passed in 2007.