It is the first work day of 2024 and for millions of Americans that means a pay bump.

I'm David Brancaccio as of this week the minimum wage is higher in nearly half the country

and companies are budgeting for more wage

increases ahead. Marketplace's Nova Safo is here with details. And in fact states

have been passing their own minimum wage increases as the federal minimum wage remains stagnant.

It's at $7.25 an hour.

A lot of states in the South and the Rust Belt are still at that rate, but big contrast to places like California, where the new minimum wage is now

$16 an hour in New York state it's up to $15 an hour. More than half the people

getting raises today are in three states, New York, California, and Hawaii.

That's according to a tally from the Economic Policy Institute.

And among those getting raises, the Institute says more than half are women, 11% are black and nearly 40% Latino. One in five are workers

whose incomes were below the federal poverty line. That means they're making

less than 15,000 dollars a year, so these wage increases have a huge impact for

those folks.

And a lot of places have started to peg changes to their minimum wage to inflation.

That's right, including California, also Maine, Montana, Arizona, and again these are

about minimum wages. Employers, a lot of them are outpacing those minimum wage increases.

Walmart, for instance, has said its starting wages between $14 and $19 an hour.

According to the conference board, think tank companies expect to pay their employees about

4% more this year than they did last year David.

All right, Nova, thank you.

Now not to be that guy, but it's also a new tax year.

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