HARTFORD, CONN (WTIC Radio)-Lawmakers joined Lamont Administration officials reminding residents that the state's minimum wage increases to $15 an hour June first.
Currently the minimum wage is $14 an hour and the federal minimum wage is $7.25.
Governor Lamont, Lt. Governor Susan Bysciewicz and others said increasing the minimum wage provides a pathway to the middle class.
According to Bysciewicz, 61 percent of those earning minimum wage are women and 49-percent are people of color. She also said 114 thousand households with children have someone earning less than $15 an hour.
The co-chairs of the legislature's Labor Committee said the increase is a good start, but more increases are necessary.
The state approved the gradual increases in 2019, when the minimum wage then was $10.10.
Bysciewicz said the pathway to the middle class is enhanced by the earned income tax credit, tax cuts, baby bonds and debt-free community college.