NJ's minimum wage will be more than $15 in 2024. Gov. Murphy's open to $20.

New Jersey’s minimum wage is set to increase by $1 to $15.13 an hour for most workers on Jan. 1 — an increase of $6.28 in five years.

Now, Gov. Phil Murphy says he’d be open to raising it again.

“ I think the debate [over raising the wage] upon reflection, given what people get paid these days, is almost quaint,” Murphy said Wednesday night on WNYC’s “Ask Governor Murphy" call-in show. “Frankly, I wonder whether or not we shouldn't be taking this higher. That's something that I'd be very open to.”

Murphy emphasized that he hasn’t had any conversations with legislative leaders about a new minimum wage standard, but suggested a rate of $18 or $20 an hour might be reasonable if phased in over time. He said an immediate increase would cause “sticker shock” and “that would impact, particularly, mom and pop businesses.”

In February 2019, Murphy signed a bill taking the state’s minimum wage from $8.85 for most employees to $10 that July, and $11 on Jan. 1, 2020. Under the law, the wage was set to rise at least $1 a year until it hit $15 in Jan. 1, 2024, though it could rise by more under a calculation tied to the Consumer Price Index, as it did at the start of 2023.

The state constitution also calls for the minimum wage to rise annually with the rate of inflation — meaning further increases are likely, but the amount isn’t set.

Not all workers will be at the $15.14 minimum next month:

• The law gives seasonal and small employers until 2026 to reach $15. They’re currently at a minimum of $12.93 and are slated to increase to $13.73 on Jan. 1.
• Agricultural employers have until 2027 to reach a $15 per hour minimum wage. Farm workers will see their minimum go from $12.01 to $12.81 on Jan. 1.
• Long-term care facility staffers are already above the $15 level — their minimum will rise from $17.13 to $18.13.
• Tipped workers will remain at $5.26 an hour, but able to claim a tip credit of $9.87, up $1. If a tipped worker’s wages and tips don’t meet the state minimum wage, the employer is required to make up the difference.

Murphy recalled that critics of raising the minimum wage in 2019 said it would hurt small businesses.

"Most small business owners pay what they can afford for their workers," Michele Siekerka, president of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said when Murphy first struck a deal with legislative leaders on the wage in early 2019. "Now that it’s a mandate, it is inevitable that some of those with the smallest of profit margins will struggle, stagnate or simply fail." She said at the time that the association prefers workforce development to raising the minimum wage and believes "that when skills are lifted, wages are naturally increased."

Then-Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick, a Republican from Union County, said at the time that small businesses wouldn’t be able to afford to pay teens seeking their first jobs. The business owners “simply don’t have the wallets,” he said after the Democratic-majority Legislature passed the bill.

But Murphy argued Wednesday that business is thriving, with tens of thousands of new jobs created over the last few years.

“One feeds into the other,” he said. “If you pay me more money, I've got more money to consume, to go out to dinner, maybe put toward a kid's education, etc.,” he said.

The minimum wage in New York City, Long Island and Westchester is currently $15 an hour, and will increase to $16 on Jan. 1. The rest of New York state will increase from $14.20 to $15.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, and hasn’t increased since 2009.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the last time the federal minimum wage was increased.