Good morning. Welcome to Axios today. It's Wednesday, January 5th. I'm Milo Boudou.

Here's what we're watching today. The pulse of the nation ahead of January 6th,

plus backlash against the term Latinx. But first, rising wages and the big quid is today's

one big thing. We're out of really unique moment when we're thinking about wages in the labor

market. Historic numbers of US workers and lower wage sectors like leisure and hospitality

are quitting, which is in part why we're on the path to a record number of wage increases

across the country as we head into 2022. Oriana Gonzalez has been covering this for Axios.

Hi, Oriana. Hi, Naila. How many cities and states are we seeing wage increases in?

So analysis from the National Employment Law Project, an organization that advocates for low wage

and unemployed workers found that 25 states in the US and 56 cities and counties will be

increasing their minimum wages this year. And I know the National Employment Law Project has been

among the group of advocates fighting for a $15 wage increase. Is that what wage rate we're

talking about here? So in some states and some cities, yes. So in two states, California and

New York, they're actually going to be increasing their minimum wages to $15 for some employees.

On a more local level, 47 cities and counties will actually reach or surpass $15 for their minimum

wage. So that includes, for example, DC and some localities in California where the minimum wage

is already $15, but it is expected to increase to keep up with the current inflation.

In some states, they have lost in place that are making it so that their minimum wage reaches

a specific amount by a specific year. That being said, the pandemic has brought up the necessity

to increase the minimum wage. And of course, 20 states are still at the federal pay level,

which is $7.25 an hour. What's going on there? Yes, then it hasn't changed since around 2009.

However, what we are seeing is that there are some actions taking place that are in a way defying

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