WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida's minimum wage increased on Sept. 30 to $15 an hour. This is the fourth and last of the annual scheduled hikes from a 2020 approved referendum.
The minimum wage for tipped workers also rose to $11.98.
WATCH BELOW: Florida minimum wage hits $15/hour
"Minimum wage is going up but so is everything going up," a young man named Neff told me Wednesday on Clematis Street. "You have to have another hustle, or another job so that way you can create more revenue and income for your family; $15 an hour is not enough."
Starting in 2027, the state minimum wage will be adjusted for inflation annually.
In South Florida, where the cost of living is high, a $25-an-hour wage is considered "livable," according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology report.
The higher wage can also mean more pressure on small businesses.
"I have to pass that cost on to the consumer; I cannot absorb a 7% increase in labor," John Ries, owner of Hot Pie Pizza in West Palm Beach, said.
Ries says that, as a policy, he pays his employees above the minimum wage, and he admits inflation on all aspects of his business make it tough to keep prices down.
