Maryland’s minimum hourly wage is currently set at $13.25 and slated to rise to $14/hour on January 1, 2024 and $15 at the beginning of 2025. For the great majority of Marylanders who live in the Baltimore or DC metropolitan areas, $15 an hour is simply insufficient.
Recognizing this injustice, Governor Wes Moore has called for an accelerated timeline with $15 per hour to be mandated by October 1st of this year and for the minimum wage to rise with inflation starting on July 1, 2025. This is a commonsense solution, although it will still leave many workers struggling. Click here to support Maryland workers!
The Fair Wage Act of 2023 is currently in the Senate Finance Committee (SB0555) and the House Economic Matters Committee (HB0549). Unfortunately, we understand that Senate leadership is already watering down the Governor’s signature legislation.
The Finance Committee is poised to remove the indexing component from the bill and to postpone until January 1, 2024 the effective date of the hike to $15/hour.
If the bill passes as amended, the Senate Democrats are guaranteeing that there will be more fights to raise the minimum wage in the near future and that many workers will find themselves falling even farther behind.
The highly respected Economic Policy Institute has testified that “increasing the Maryland minimum wage to $15 in 2023 would boost incomes for low-wage workers and advance gender and racial justice.” Putting more money in workers’ pockets will also provide a boost to our local economies. Please join our Letter Campaign and tell the Senate Finance Committee and the House Economic Matters Committee:
- Index Maryland’s minimum wage to inflation.
- Raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour on October 1st.