Healey: Minimum wage should keep pace with inflation

Photo | Courtesy of State House News Service Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey

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By Chris Lisinski | State House News Service

Hours after Gov. Maura Healey responded to a question about another minimum wage hike without staking out a yes-or-no position, her press secretary said Healey supports adjusting the wage floor to soften the impact of inflation.

"Governor Healey is a strong supporter of paying workers a fair wage and believes the state minimum wage should be adjusted over time to keep up with the cost of living," Healey spokesperson Karissa Hand said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. "She will review any legislation that reaches her desk."

The statement didn't shed any new light on whether Healey believes the current $15 per hour minimum wage is sufficient for the cost of living in 2023 or if Healey supports raising the minimum wage or indexing it to account for inflation, an idea that was dropped before the 2018 law was finalized.

The statewide minimum wage hit $15 an hour on Jan. 1 in the last annual increase laid out under the 2018 "grand bargain" legislation that prevented a series of tax and wage ballot questions from being decided by voters. In the weeks since the final hike took effect, supporters of the original push set their sights on charting a path to a $20 per hour minimum wage by 2027.

Asked during an interview on WBUR's "Radio Boston" if she believes Massachusetts should take a step toward increasing the minimum wage again, Healey replied, "Right now, I am very much focused on what we have in terms of revenue, what we have in anticipated revenue, and what I can do in support through my proposed budget."

"When you talk about affordability, certainly wage and minimum wage is important, but it's also important to look at what are we doing around food security, what are we doing around housing, what are we doing to drive down the cost of child care," she said.