Sarah Taddeo is reporting for lohud [dot] com the minimum wage in New York will increase on December 31. Minimum wage workers in Westchester County and in Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island will see their wages increase to $15 an hour in the new year, a rate equal to workers employed by large firms in New York City, who have been making $15 an hour since the end of 2018. Fast food workers statewide also make $15 an hour, regardless of location. Workers in the rest of the state will see an increase in their hourly rate to $13.20, a 70-cent raise from the current rate of $12.50, on December 31. The state minimum wage package was passed in 2016 by the state Legislature and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo with a five-year rising scale of wages, staggered across the state based on location. Last year, some lawmakers and business groups condemned the state’s decision to raise the minimum wage as scheduled, saying it would harm struggling businesses. The state argued that low-wage workers were some of the hardest hit in 2020, particularly in the hospitality and retail sectors, and therefore they should receive a bump in pay. This year, New York’s Division of the Budget again found that the low-wage sector was the most severely impacted by the pandemic. Nationally, President Joe Biden signed an executive order in April, requiring a $15 an hour minimum wage for federal contractors beginning January 30, 2022. Read the full story at lohud [dot] com.