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Connecticut's Minimum Wage Increases To $9.15 Per Hour On Jan. 1

FAIRFIELD COUNTY, Conn. – Some workers in Connecticut will be seeing a boost in their wages in the New Year: The minimum wage in the Nutmeg State is scheduled to increase effective Jan. 1 from the current rate of $8.70 an hour to $9.15 per hour.

Connecticut's minimum wage will jump up to $9.15 per hour on Jan. 1.

Connecticut's minimum wage will jump up to $9.15 per hour on Jan. 1.

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The increase is the result of a new law Gov. Dannel Malloy signed in March that requires a series of modest increases through 2017. After this week’s increase, there are two more scheduled under the adopted law: it will rise to $9.60 on Jan. 1, 2016, and then to $10.10 on Jan. 1, 2017.

“Connecticut was the first state in the nation to commit to increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour because we want to make sure that no one who works full time lives in poverty,” Malloy said in a statement. “This latest increase is just one more part of a phased-in series of gradual increases for hard-working men and women, many of whom are supporting their families and who will put this increase directly into Connecticut’s economy.”

The $10.10 an hour minimum wage has been a national agenda headed by President Barack Obama, who visited Connecticut earlier in the year campaigning for the wage hike, but the initiative is a polarizing one.

Those in favor of the $10.10 minimum wage hope to decrease the income disparity in the Nutmeg State which is the second largest in the nation.

Opponents of the measure said the rapid wage increases would prompt business to slow or stop hiring due to the added expense.

Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman said the increased wage is especially helpful for female workers in Connecticut.

“For the 125,000 Connecticut women who earn at or just above the minimum wage, this increase is critical — it will help support families and improve women’s future economic security," Wyman said in a statement. "I applaud Governor Malloy and the legislature for their leadership on this issue. Raising the minimum wage will ensure fewer low-wage workers live in poverty and it will improve the state’s economic health.” “Our state is taking the right step in its efforts to provide a better wage for lower-income workers,”

The new rates can be found on the Connecticut Department of Labor’s Web site or by contacting the Labor Department’s Division of Wage and Workplace Standards at 860-263-6790.

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