Virginia is in the middle of the pack in Best Places to Work ranking
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
More job searchers are looking for work that pays $20 an hour, surpassing searches for $15 an hour since April 2021, according to data released this week by job search platform Indeed, Axios’ Emily Peck reports.
What’s happening: Nominal wage gain and inflation are pushing workers to look for greater pay, according to Indeed.
Why it matters: Virginia recently hiked its minimum wage — for the first time in a decade. And it’s a long way from $20 an hour.
What they’re saying: “Even the highest state minimum wage is not enough to support a family,” left-leaning nonprofit Oxfam wrote in its annual Best and Worst States to Work in America report, released Thursday.
Zoom in: Virginia ranked 22nd in the nation, scoring decent marks for worker protections (despite being dinged for being a “right to work'' state and not requiring paid leave). We notched lower marks for wage policies.
- The minimum wage is $11. It’s scheduled to rise to $12 in January.
- But based on our cost of living, it should be closer to $39 an hour, according to MIT’s Living Wage Calculator.
Between the lines: Wage policies have played a significant role in determining how attractive Virginia is to employees.
After coming in dead last in Oxfam’s rankings in 2018 and 2019, the state rose to 23 last year following new laws that increased the minimum wage, opened the door to local public employee unions and created protections for domestic workers.