Prince George’s County lawmakers have introduced a bill that would require minimum wage to grow with inflation, which proponents say would provide businesses more predictability while also helping lower-income workers from seeing their wages silently eroded.
As of Jan. 1, all employers across Maryland, regardless of size, must pay hourly workers a minimum of $15, up from $13.25 in 2023. The increase stems from a state law passed in 2023, which accelerated the implementation of increases mandated by an earlier law state legislators passed in 2019, when the minimum wage was $11. But counties can also enact their own minimum wage laws, as long as they meet the state’s minimum requirements.
In Prince George’s, a bill sponsored by eight of 10 county council members, presented at a Tuesday meeting, would require the minimum wage, beginning July 1, 2025, to increase each year by average inflation over the preceding 12-month period, up to 5%.
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If inflation were nil or negative, then the minimum wage wouldn’t rise. The proposed bill text also provides that, if overall employment in the county has contracted over a certain period, then the county council may “consider the performance of County revenues” in determining whether “temporarily” to suspend a wage increase for one year.
