New Jersey’s minimum wage goes up on July 1 but there is some confusion about how much of an increase will actually take effect and who will be getting more money.

“The new minimum wage in New Jersey is $10 an hour, which is part of the pathway signed by Gov. Murphy to put us on the path towards $15 an hour in 2024 for most workers,” said Rob Asaro-Angelo, commissioner of the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

The next increase, on Jan. 1, 2020, will bring the minimum wage up to $11 an hour, and then $1 an hour increases will follow in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

“I don’t want businesses to be confused about what their responsibilities are, and quite frankly I want to make sure folks know what the right wage is so they’re not calling our office,” he said.

“We don’t want employees also to think they’re being paid the wrong wage, because they’re not getting $15 an hour.”

Asaro-Angelo said the minimum wage will increase more slowly for small businesses with fewer than six employees, seasonal businesses and farm labor.

According to a report by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, the state’s minimum wage will continue to increase based on the Consumer Price Index after 2024.

According to the NJBIA, workers exempt from the minimum wage rates include:

— Full-time students employed by the college or university at which they are enrolled at not less than 85% of the effective minimum wage rate;
— Outside salesmen;
— Automobile salesmen;
— Part-time employees engaged in the care and tending of children in the home of the employer;
— Minors under 18 (except minors under 18 working in the processing of farm products, hotels, motels, restaurants, retail, beauty culture, laundry, cleaning, dyeing, light manufacturing and apparel occupations)
— Vocational school graduates with special permits under the Child Labor Law;
— Employees at summer camps, conferences and retreats operated by any nonprofit, religious corporation, or association are exempt from minimum and overtime rates during the months of June, July, August and September.

A handful of other states, including California, Connecticut Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Washington, D.C., have announced plans to increase their minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next four to five years.

You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com

More From Lite 96.9 WFPG