Monday, December 25, 2023

Maryland minimum wage increases to $15 on January 1, 2024

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (L) and
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich

The minimum wage in Maryland will increase to $15 on Monday, January 1, 2024. This statewide increase was signed into law by Gov. Wes Moore (D) earlier this year. Here in Montgomery County, the minimum wage is already $15 or higher for most employers. As a result, only employees of business with 10 or less workers will see their salaries increase on New Year's Day, from $14.50 to $15.00. 

“We applaud Governor Wes Moore’s efforts to help all Marylanders,” Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said in a statement. “The minimum wage is ultimately about working people being able to earn enough to put a roof over their heads, feed their families and not have to choose between food on the table and medical visits. I want to thank Governor Moore for making this one of his earliest priorities. I was glad to testify on behalf of the legislation, and I support this important State-wide legislation.”

23 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:34 AM

    So sad and self defeating that so many think all jobs are supposed to be a 'living wage.' What hated to 'stepping stones,' education, and better training? We don't need to 'better ourselves ' any more.

    Looks to me the real money will be in Robotics, if the fast food places can survive til then. Of course the real goal is Cloward Piven, or whatever that is: no more merit or discipline, or education required.

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  2. Anonymous9:34 AM

    As a result, only employees of business with 10 or less workers will see their salaries increase on New Year's Day, from $14.50 to $15.00.
    A small step for the common man a giant leap for politicians!

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  3. Anonymous10:30 AM

    And when $15 doesn't have the desired effect politicians envision? No problem, just raise it more. Democrats really don't understand how the world works outside of their utopia.

    Merry Christmas!

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  4. Anonymous6:12 PM

    How unfamiliar the long time residents of Bethesda are with the cycle of poverty; how out-of-focus the life of the common worker is to those in their Kenwood, etc. estates. How to afford better education and better bespoke trade and career training if your wages aren't high enough as it is to support yourself much less a family? Now - throw in a surprise medical bill, or other expense like that of your car ransacked in your own driveway at night. Newsflash: none of the folks below the poverty line want to be there, and most work more than one job. It appears lofty Bethesdans only see what they want to see - which is a smug and comfortable working class leeching off the financial pity of the county. How wrong they are.

    Reminder: the world is not as it was when you could wait tables and use your tips to pay for college. In fact, in 1980, TOTAL annual tuition, room, and board at UMD, College Park was just shy of $3,000. Now, when you realize that 2023 annual tuition UMD, College Park costs $15,000 even without living on campus (which would be about another $15,000 total), it starts to become clear how a minimum wage ever so behind on inflationary adjustments is just not enough to "be a stepping stone to a better education."

    I'm registered independent and have my fair share of critiques of the liberal side of things, but to scoff at what is in reality a modest wage increase for a small subset of taxpayers is sad and holier-than-thou. And remember the age old rule: never talk down on the people who make your food.

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    1. Anonymous4:32 AM

      Too bad it's going to ruin employment in toto, in that entire sector. Already it's happening with kiosks and robots. How do you rationalize that, 6:12?

      Delete
  5. Anonymous2:49 AM

    @6:12 The problem is that it's never enough. CA is going to $20/hour in January yet the Whitehouse says inflation is down. People who claim that this is a "modest" increase have never run a business and will never understand the ladder that begins with the starter job. Raising the minimum to a "living wage" hurts the very people disconnected liberals say they're trying to help. Feeling good is not the same as doing good but that's the problem as liberals find out that this isn't a zero-sum-gain that exists within a closed system but this is wasted breath as feelings dominate logic.

    Meanwhile 13 Baltimore schools didn't graduate A SINGLE student proficient in mathematics. Congratulations democrats! More kids discarded by public education to be temporarily propped up with a $15/hour job that won't be enough.

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  6. Anonymous5:37 AM

    Can 6:12 be more disconnected from reality? Since when are entry-level jobs supposed to support a family? Work hard, get ahead, advance and make more money is how the real world works. Unfortunately that's just not in the liberal play book where one skips through college with a degree in 14th Century French Literature and goes straight to the boardroom.

    If you were my employee, I would give you the opportunity to seek that $15/hour no-skill job.

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  7. Anonymous10:40 AM

    5:37 is the one disconnected from reality. People need enough to survive. There is no other option. Those who are against living wages are just obsessed with bloating government. Government should not have to be giving out handouts just so employers can have cheap, subsidized labor. GTFO with all your socialist crap and pay the real cost of your employee's labor.

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    1. Anonymous2:03 AM

      10:40, You have a funny (not as funny as sad) take on the problem. Firstly, keeping the wages realistically lower with the low skilled jobs and more Gubmint aren't exclusive to one another. The free market works just fine, if the Gubmint would just let it. Gubmint is the problem, we sure don't need more of it!

      Secondly, it's apparent you're not keeping abreast the higher wage fallout ALREADY shutting restaurant doors. Now, where do the staff go? The Gubmint is even importing more competition, don't you get its unsustainable?

      Delete
  8. Anonymous3:05 AM

    10:40 is a perfect example of how public education has failed. Trying to tie government benefits to low wages demonstrates a lack of understanding in basic economics. There "is no other option" otherwise people cannot survive is the basic socialist model where everyone is 'equal' but history shows that some are more equal than others.

    If everyone down to entry-level starter jobs are paid a "living wage", the cost of goods would skyrocket necessitating sharp increases in those wages creating an uncontrollable spiral devaluating the currency. Unfortunately I'm wasting time explaining economics to that French Lit degree holder who will never understand.

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  9. Anonymous5:19 AM

    @10:40 You start out with a socialist scribe and end with bashing the very thing you proposed?

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  10. Anonymous9:35 AM

    There is no option other than "living wages;" people need enough to survive or they die. Either the employer pays a living wage or the employer does not and government is forced to subsidize in the form of food stamps, Medicaid, etc. to artificially reach a living wage via handouts.

    Either you believe in private enterprise covering the cost of their employees or your believe in government subsiding employers and providing handouts to able-bodied workers. This is not a hard choice for most of us.

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    1. Anonymous11:53 AM

      I bet you never mowed yards, pumped gas, or delivered papers either. Uou know, what no o e talks about with all this illegal alien invasion is that we are actually robbing their native countries of the option to improve their own standards of life.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous10:49 AM

    Maryland has raised the minimum wage 10 straight years and guess what happened? Not only did the sky not fall, we now have the lowest unemployment rate in US history. Why don't you chew on that, poorly educated guy who thinks he's so much better than French Lit majors.

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    1. Anonymous6:22 AM

      @10:49 How do you know its a "he"? Misgendering is a crime these days thanks to leftists.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous1:19 PM

    So 10:49 is triggered when confronted with reality, (not to mention nailing it with their useless college degree). In their ideal world, they live on CNN numbers telling all of us how good a living wage is for the country all while implying that it has zero effect on the unemployment rate and by extrapolation the economy. Do you realize your utopian leaders tried this in Venezuela which eventually forced people to eat zoo animals? I get it, consequences are for the other guy and when your chickens come home to roost, it's always someone else's fault. When you run that successful business, let us know how it goes.

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  13. Anonymous3:51 PM

    One more time, 9:35 - minimum wage jobs are not for those trying to raise a family. They are for youngsters just getting their feet wet in the employment market. If they WANT to stay at McDonald's until they are 50, well then, that's a choice they make. Once they get their first job, people with real hustle and get-up -and-go will move on to better, higher paying jobs. That's how it works. Maybe they would even wake up and start in HVAC, electric, or plumbing trades and they will start to out-earn French Lit majors!

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  14. Anonymous4:47 PM

    One more time, minimum wage doesn't apply to "youngsters." You are supremely ignorant on this topic.

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    1. Anonymous1:11 AM

      "Youngsters" cannot find jobs, no Summertime, no after-school baggers, few lawnmowing...etc.
      The illegals have all taken those jobs! My morning paper is delivered by a guy making payments on a Cadillac SUV with paper tags!!!!! Crazy!




      Delete
  15. Anonymous4:51 PM

    I'm thoroughly enjoying this whiny loser who hates how low MD's unemployment rate is (lowest in the nation) and how high our incomes are (highest in the nation). If you can't stand being the best in the US then just move to an economically depressed red state with low minimum wages. There are plenty to choose from.

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    1. Anonymous9:53 AM

      Me thinks you might have a sort of colorblindness confusing Red with Blue.

      Delete
  16. Anonymous2:27 AM

    10:40/9:35/10:49/4:51 - Seriously, put down the waterpipe and join the real world where 1+1 actually equals 2. If real unemployment is so low, why is crime such a problem? Like Phil Mendelssohn in DC stating in front of congress "there is no crime problem", ignoring facts you don't like doesn't make them go away.

    Go back to school and learn something this time.

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  17. Anonymous4:49 AM

    @2:27 Good arguments made with what I think is an idealistic high school student. They end up burying themselves with every word. Such is the public schools these days trained to worship leftist leaders regardless of their track record.

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