Newest NJ Lawmaker Touts $25 Minimum Wage

Lawmakers across the country, including freshly elected Analilia Mejia (NJ-11), have introduced a bill that would raise the federal minimum wage to $25 an hour.

Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, which has been left unchanged since 2009. In New Jersey, the state minimum wage is $15.92 per hour for most employees, with some seasonal workers and employees of businesses with fewer than six workers getting $15.23 per hour.

The Living Wage for All Act, Mejia’s first piece of major legislation since replacing Mikie Sherrill in Congress, would gradually increase the federal minimum wage through phases.

According to lawmakers, the bill would require large, highly profitable corporations to lead the transition, reaching $25 per hour by 2031. These larger corporations would be ones with annual gross revenues of $1 billion or more, or have 500 or more employees across the nation.

The timeline for the large employer adjustments would be as follows:

• $12 per hour, beginning in 2026
• $15 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2027
• $18 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2028
• $20 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2029
• $22.50 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2030
• $25.00 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2031

Smaller employers, any other employer that doesn’t qualify as a large corporation, would phase in the adjustments more gradually, reaching $25 by 2038. See the smaller employer adjustment timeline below:

• $12 per hour, beginning in 2026
• $14 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2027
• $16 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2028
• $18 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2029
• $20 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2030
• $20.60 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2031
• $21.20 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2032
• $21.80 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2033
• $22.40 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2034
• $23 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2035
• $23.60 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2036
• $24.20 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2037
• $25 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2038

This isn’t Mejia’s first time trying to bump minimum wage rates, as she championed for the Garden State’s minimum wage to be increased to $15 per hour in 2024.

She calls the 17-year gap between federal minimum wage adjustments “unacceptable.”

“No one working full-time should be struggling to survive. We need an economy that reflects the realities of 2026, not one stuck over a decade ago,” Mejia said in a statement. “This bill would transform millions of lives, ensuring working people earn a true living wage instead of being forced to choose between putting food on the table and taking care of their health. Americans deserve an economy that works for all, not just the billionaire class.”

Joining Mejia in the Living Wage for All Act are Congressmembers Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), and Lateefah Simon (CA-12).

The notion of increasing the federal minimum wage by nearly $18 is an ambitious one, as lawmakers have tried it in the past. Rep. Donald Norcross (D-Camden) tried in recent years to raise it to $17, but it never passed.

In 2019, House Democrats passed a $15-an-hour minimum wage bill before it died in the Senate.

With a Republican-controlled House, Mejia's proposed bill may have trouble passing.