On December 10, Mercer County became the third county in New Jersey to call on the state government to raise the minimum wage to at least $15 per hour.
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, but New Jersey state law requires workers here in the Garden State be paid at least $8.38 per hour.
NJ voters adopted a Constitutional amendment that raised the minimum to $8.25 per hour in 2013, and provided for future increases based on inflation.
However, this year there was no increase.
The vote of the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders was unanimous. They followed the lead of Essex and Hudson Counties, which each passed resolutions in support of raising the minimum wage to at least $15 per hour.
Among whose pushing for the change are the members of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance, a Newark-based non-profit advocacy group.
Raising the minimum wage higher than it is now would require an act of the state legislature or the Congress.
