Governor Ned Lamont announced that beginning on January 1, 2024, Connecticut’s minimum wage will increase from the current rate of $15.00 per hour to $15.69 per hour, as a result of the state’s first-ever economic indicator adjustment.

This newly enacted adjustment is required under a state law Governor Lamont signed in 2019 (Public Act 19-4), which implemented five incremental increases in the minimum wage between 2019 and 2023, followed by future adjustments that are tied to the percentage change in the federal employment cost index. Beginning on January 1, 2024, and occurring annually each January 1 thereafter, the state’s minimum wage will be adjusted according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s calculation of the employment cost index for the twelve-month period ending on June 30 of the preceding year. The law requires the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Labor to review this percentage change and then announce any adjustments by October 15 of each year. The minimum wage adjustments become effective on the following January 1.

Connecticut Labor Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo reports that the employment cost index increased by 4.6 percent over the twelve-month period ending on June 30, 2023, accounting for a $0.69 increase to the state’s minimum wage that will become effective on January 1, 2024. 

“The minimum wage for many years remained stagnant, making existing pay disparities even worse and preventing hardworking families from obtaining financial security. That is why several years ago I signed a bill into law enacting several increases in the minimum wage and then ultimately attaching it to federal economic indicators so that as the economy grows the wages of low-income workers can grow with it. This is a fair, modest increase and the money earned will be spent right back into our own economy and support local businesses, said Governor Lamont. 

“This increase will benefit Connecticut’s 160,000 to 200,000 minimum wage workers and help offset some of the effects of national economic challenges, such as higher energy costs and interest rates. I commend Governor Lamont and the legislature for enacting this important wage reform,” explained Commissioner Bartolomeo.

According to the Current Population Survey, as calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 60 percent of minimum wage earners in Connecticut are women.

Moving forward under this new law, Connecticut workers and employers may anticipate announcements by October 15 of each year declaring the change in the minimum wage that will become effective on January 1 of the approaching year.