NM: Albuquerque Leaders Reach Deal on Minimum Wage

Albuquerque's City Council President Martin Heinrich has reached a deal with the Mayor to increase Albuquerque's minimum wage [1] to $7.50 an hour by 2009. While the final ordinance is not yet worked out, it may provide a $1.00 an hour allowance to employers who provide $2,500 per year in health care or child care benefits. The move comes after New Mexico's Senate killed minimum wage legislation earlier this year. Santa Fe already has a higher minimum wage. Passage in Albuquerque could help force the issue at the state level. Similar city level minimum wage initiatives are spreading [2] across the country, even as living wage ordinances, a closely related cousin, get most of the limelight. For more on city level minimum wages, check out the Brennan Center for Justice's policy brief [2] on the subject.