New Jersey
NJ minimum wage crosses $15 threshold
As 2024 rings in, it also marks the crossing of a notable threshold here in the Garden State when the minimum wage increases Jan. 1 to $15.13 per hour.
That figure, affecting some 350,000 of New Jersey’s nearly 1.9 million hourly workers, surpasses the $15 per hour goal set into law in 2019 and makes the state one of just a handful to reach that mark.
“Raising the minimum wage has been a top priority of mine since day one,” said Gov. Phil Murphy. “There is no doubt that inflation has had an impact on every New Jerseyan. Now that we are close to surpassing the $15 per hour milestone, it’s important that we continue to ensure that everyone working in New Jersey has access to a livable wage.”
Industry specifics:
- Seasonal employers and businesses with six or fewer employees have until 2026 to pay workers at least $15 per hour – these employees’ minimum wage increases to $13.73 per hour on Jan. 1.
- Agricultural workers are guided by a separate timetable and were given until 2027 to reach the mark – they will see their hourly wages increase by 80 cents, to $12.81 per hour.
- Long-term care facility direct care staff will see their minimum wage increase by $1 to $18.13 per hour.
- Tipped workers’ cash wage remains at $5.26 per hour with employers able to claim a $9.87 tip credit – a $1 increase. If the minimum cash wage plus an employee’s tip do not equal at least the state’s minimum wage, the employer must pay the employee the difference.
The minimum wage is set by the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (NJDOL) using either the rate specified in the law, or a calculation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) – whichever is higher. New Jersey’s constitution specifies that the minimum wage will continue to be adjusted annually based on CPI.
You can check out full details, along with more of the particulars on minimum wage changes on the NJDOL website here.
“Raising and aggressively enforcing the minimum wage signals to employers and workers alike that New Jersey values its workforce,” said Labor Commissioner Robert Asaro-Angelo. “While our Department’s Workforce efforts try to ensure workers receiving minimum wage are only doing so for a small part of their career, this is a proud moment for New Jersey as we become one of the few states with a minimum wage above $15 an hour that will continue to be adjusted each year for inflation.”
The NJDOL also announced changes in the maximum benefit rates and taxable wages for its Unemployment Insurance (UI), Temporary Disability Insurance (TDI), Family Leave Insurance (FLI) and Workers’ Compensation programs, which begin Jan. 1, 2024.
Business as usual
“The New Jersey business community expected the minimum wage to rise to around $15/hour on Jan. 1 so there’s no surprise with this increase. Employers had time to prepare so it’s business as usual in regard to that,” Tom Bracken, president and CEO, New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, told NJBIZ in a statement. “However, there is talk during the lame duck of expanding paid family leave which would be an additional financial burden on small businesses. This creates much unpredictability for them – and adds further financial constraints on their ability to operate.”
“We have always said businesses will pay what they can afford. According to our 2024 Business Outlook Survey, 34% of businesses increased pay for employees by 5% or more. Three years ago, during the height of the pandemic, that number was only 12%,” Michele Siekerka, president and CEO, New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), told NJBIZ in a statement. “And despite uncertain economic outlooks nationally and in New Jersey, businesses expect that upward trend to continue in 2024, with 21% saying they’ll increase wages more than 5%.”
“However, we also saw less in the way of profits in 2023,” Siekerka continued. “Only 32% of respondents reported profits for the year. At the same time, 44% reported a loss. And in recent years, we have still seen a ton of small businesses shudder because, as we emphasize more than ever, every dollar counts. That’s not a tag line. That’s the truth.”
Regarding talk of potentially looking into raising the minimum wage further – as the governor has hinted at – Siekerka believes that the market is always the best natural determinant, as opposed to another mandate.
“The truth of the matter is that more entry-level positions exceeded the $1 increase per year over the past five years, especially given the aftermath of COVID and workplace demands,” Siekerka explained. “It also should be said that the state constitution specifies that minimum wage be determined by the CPI. We shouldn’t be dismissing that. It might be better to take a pause to analyze inflation and the free market rather than just setting a number.”
She stressed that we do not know which way the economy is going.
“And there are still businesses that are still very much vulnerable,” said Siekerka. “Most of our employers have a keen awareness to the economy and their own bottom lines. They know what they can afford and what they can’t. Let the free market do its work.”
Most of our employers have a keen awareness to the economy and their own bottom lines. They know what they can afford and what they can’t. Let the free market do its work.
— Michele Siekerka, president and CEO, NJBIA
In a press release, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage applauded the 22 states (including New Jersey) that are ringing in the new year with a minimum wage increase. According to the national network of business organizations, owners and executives that believe an increased minimum wage makes good business sense, another three states and the District of Columbia are scheduled for increaseses later in 2024.
“Minimum wage increases are a great way to start the new year,” said Holly Sklar, CEO, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. “They help workers put food on the table and keep a roof overhead and they boost the consumer spending that businesses depend on. Fairer wages help businesses hire and retain employees and deliver the reliable customer service that leads to repeat customers instead of lost customers. While the federal minimum wage falls further and further behind the cost of living at just $7.25 an hour, state increases are vital for workers, businesses, and communities.”
New Jersey
Exclusive | NJ grandma with heart of gold goes viral for making salami sandwich for her mailman
This is one first class hero.
A New Jersey granny with a big heart recently went viral for making a salami and cheese sandwich for her mailman — who thought it was the best thing since sliced bread.
Antoinette Giancamilli, better known as Nonna Netta, has a tradition of presenting her postman, Kyle Frankenfield, with homemade food when he delivers the mail to her Alpha, NJ home, just east of the Pennsylvania border.
“It started out when I was roasting chicken and I gave him a chicken leg,” Giancamilli, 83, told The Post.
“Sometimes I just give him scones or a muffin or a piece of pizza. Whatever I have, I give him … But he loves a bagel with salami and cheese, that’s his favorite.”
The viral clip, which got close to 9 million combined views, started with the octogenarian in her kitchen, putting together the Genoa salami and provolone cheese on a bagel and toasting it.
“Got a sandwich for you, Kyle,” Giancamilli announces when she sees him approaching.
“This is like the third time this week,” the grateful mailman answers incredulously.
Once she hands him the sandwich, he gushes, “Anything you ever make is the best thing I’ve ever had. Thank you so much. You’re like a third grandmother to me.”
After the sandwich became so popular online, Giancamilli started to share it with other visitors.
“The guy just came to change our water heater tank and I said, ‘Do you want the mailman special?’ and I gave it to him too,” she said.
The mom of four and grandma of nine has more than 2 million combined followers on social media thanks to her grandson, Luke Hardin.
The idea to share his nonna, which means “grandmother” in Italian, with the world came in 2023 when he would visit her for lunch during his summer internship and post photos of the meals she would make him on TikTok.
“It would be a steak sandwich, hamburgers,” Giancamilli said. “And people commented, ‘Boy, I wish I had a grandma like that.’”
Now, the native of Rome, who immigrated to New Jersey in 1956 at 14 and started working as a seamstress for 75 cents an hour at 16, cannot leave the house without being recognized.
“Every time she goes to the grocery store, there’s at least a couple people that she doesn’t know that recognize her,” Hardin, 24, said.
“Even all my neighbors, they all know me,” Giancamilli added. “They say, ‘I watch you all the time, especially when I’m hungry.’”
The beloved nonna’s most popular videos have been the one of her roasting tomatoes for sauce, which racked up 110 million views, making cinnamon buns, which garnered 95 million, and whipping up pasta with pesto and shrimp, which got more than 21 million.
Her recipes are in such high demand that she’s even releasing a cookbook.
“She’s really seeing the impact that she’s having, all these people saying that they cooked cutlets for the first time or made pizza with their family,” Hardin said.
The spry senior, who is celebrating her 70th anniversary of moving to America next month, cooks for her family of 20 every Sunday.
“She has a saying, ‘If you feed them, they will come,’” Hardin said.
The New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks are going in very different directions. Well, we hope they are going in different directions. Both teams are currently in the same spot: home. Watching the playoffs on TV. Both also ended the tenure of their GMs, although Jim Rutherford is still in the seat.
The Canucks seem like they know what the path forward is, and it involves a rebuild. Quinn Hughes was traded for a haul. Elias Pettersson has been on the trade block for two years. Everything in Vancouver is available, as long as they hit the cap floor.
One player who is really interesting is Brock Boeser. He’s a former 40-goal scorer who hasn’t been that guy for two years. He seems very similar to Timo Meier, who is also a 40-goal scorer who has struggled to get back to 30 goals.
One might think that the Devils should have no interest in another player who is paid like he’s a 40-goal scorer when he’s actually a 25-goal scorer. That’s Boeser.
The difference is that Meier is a hard-nosed player who adds more than scoring to the lineup. Boeser isn’t a one-trick pony, but he’s also not a “lot of tricks” pony. Boeser needs to score to be effective, and he’s not scoring enough.
That’s why, one year after signing him to a seven-year deal worth a little more than $7 million per season.
Many believe the Canucks only re-signed Boeser in a last-ditch effort to keep Quinn Hughes, but it was never going to work. Now, they are stuck with a pretty bad contract. Boeser still has some value, so many are looking at who might trade for him.
Brock Boeser still doesn’t make sense for the New Jersey Devils
Michael DeRosa with the Sporting News says the Devils are one of three teams that could trade for Boeser. His reasoning includes the Devils’ disappointing finish and Boeser’s possible fit on a line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt.
Boeser does have a similar impact profile as Tyler Toffoli, who has been the best fit next to Hughes since he joined the league.
However, the Devils can’t afford to pay Boeser his price, even if the Canucks retain $1 million for the life of the deal. The only way this works is if the Devils essentially sell on a lost asset. If the Devils can trade Jacob Markstrom for Boeser, maybe Sunny Mehta would consider it.
Without a considerable trade going the other way, the Devils wouldn’t even consider trading for Boeser. This isn’t how to start the Mehta era in New Jersey.
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In New Jersey, public libraries are treated as civic infrastructure under state law. They are primarily funded by a mandatory municipal tax under N.J.S.A. 40:54-8, known as the “1/3 mill” formula: 33 cents for every $1,000 of a municipality’s equalized, or true, property value. This minimum must be raised annually for library operations, regardless of local budget pressures.
Many municipalities choose to fund their libraries above this minimum. Libraries often receive additional support from grants, donations, and Friends of the Library groups.
But in municipalities like Princeton, where developers are receiving tax abatements known as PILOTs, or Payments in Lieu of Taxes, that baseline funding can be slowly and quietly eroded.
Under a PILOT agreement, a developer pays the municipality an annual fee instead of conventional property taxes. These agreements can last up to 30 years. The fee is typically far less than what full taxation would generate, and it flows directly to the municipality. The county receives 5 percent. The library receives nothing.
That matters because the 1/3 mill formula runs on equalized property valuation, which is the total taxable value of assessed property in a municipality. When a large apartment complex receives a PILOT, the building’s value is exempt from assessment. Only the land beneath it remains on the tax rolls. A development worth $60 million might contribute the taxable equivalent of a modest vacant lot.
The result: as a town grows — new buildings rising, new residents moving in, new cardholders walking through the library’s doors — the funding formula can stagnate. The tax base the library depends on reflects a version of the town that no longer exists.
The gap has drawn some legislative attention. A 2022 bill proposed adding the value of PILOT-exempt properties back into the equalized valuation used for state aid funding calculations, an acknowledgment that the standard formula fails to account for the full scale of development in PILOT-heavy municipalities. The bill never made it out of committee.
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