Minimum wage is on the rise in New Jersey. The Garden State enacted the increase — from $8.85 to $10 — on Monday, the first in a series of pay hikes meant to bring the state to a $15 minimum wage by 2024.
Governor Phil Murphy signed the increase into law in February, and it's expected to impact more than one million New Jersey residents.
Both of the state's senators, Bob Menedez and Cory Booker, supported the legislation.
Seven states have passed similar “Fight for 15” laws, and this year, 18 states have raised their minimum wage ー though not necessarily to $15-an-hour -- according to the National Conference of State Legislators.
Still, on the federal level, the campaign for a $15 minimum wage has not seen success.
The Raise the Wage Act, which would increase that benchmark by 2024, is stalled in the legislature without Republican support.
Today, more than 80 million Americans are paid by the hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Meanwhile, more than half a million Americans make the current federal minimum wage, which has hovered at just above $7 an hour since 2009.
Oracle soars as it cashes in on the AI boom, Plus: Starbucks shares continue to fall under its new CEO, and does anybody actually want a new iPhone Air?
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
