N.Y.'s minimum wage to rise to $6.75

ALBANY, N.Y., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The state of New York's minimum wage is set to go up to $6.75 an hour, from $6.25 an hour, in the new year.

"That extra doesn't do a lot," said Rhoda Maikels of Menands, N.Y., who works at a grocery store. "But I have a job."

The increase is tied to legislation passed in 2004. Under the law, the state raised the minimum wage from $5.15 -- the current federal minimum -- to $6 last Jan. 1. Sunday the minimum wage is raised to $6.75 and Jan. 1, 2007, the minimum wage will rise to $7.15 an hour, reported the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union Saturday.

However, advocates say the increases are not enough. The Working Families Party, a statewide political group, said the wage increases are not the end for the group's campaign.

"If you're making $6.75 an hour and you work 2,000 hours over the course of the year, you're earning less than $14,000 a year," said Alex Navarro, spokesman for the Working Families Party. "If you're a single parent with a child, you're at the poverty level."