Mayoral frontrunner Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday rolled out a proposal to raise New York City’s minimum hourly wage to $20, but the plan would need Albany’s backing, in part because he as governor blocked an effort to let the city set its own salary standards.
Under Cuomo’s plan, the minimum wage would jump to $20 from its current $16.50 level on Jan. 1, 2027, the one-year mark of his first mayoral term, should he be elected. Such a salary bump would impact some 800,000 workers, according to Cuomo’s campaign.
Unveiling the proposal at a rally at the Manhattan headquarters of 1199 SEIU, a healthcare union supporting his campaign, Cuomo acknowledged the city’s affordability crisis has emerged as perhaps the most pressing issue in this year’s mayoral race. “The best way” to tackle the crisis, he said, is to boost wages for low-income New Yorkers.
“That will put more money in people’s pockets,” said Cuomo, who’s polling as the favorite to win the June 24 Democratic mayoral primary.
A minimum wage boost wouldn’t be as simple as a flick of a switch.
Salary requirements are set by the state, meaning Gov. Hochul and the state Legislature would need to approve any minimum-level increase.
Hochul and state lawmakers have already enacted a plan whereby the city’s minimum wage ticks up each year at a rate determined by consumer price indexes.
It’s unclear if Hochul and legislators would be open to backing a proposal for a more immediate jump to $20. A Hochul spokesman didn’t return a request for comment.
As governor in 2014, Cuomo blocked a proposal from then-Mayor Bill de Blasio that would have empowered the city to set its own salary floor.
in 2016, Cuomo pushed through an increase to New York’s minimum wage law anyway, raising it to $15 for most workers, a feat he frequently touts as one of his biggest accomplishments as governor before he resigned in 2021 amid sexual misconduct accusations he denies.
Had he let the de Blasio proposal pass in 2014, Cuomo would have had a much easier time to further raise the city’s minimum wage as mayor.
Cuomo acknowledged there’s likely going to be pushback against his new proposal.
“The business people are going to say, ‘Oh, no, you can’t raise the minimum wage because that’s going to slow the economy.’ — Baloney!” said Cuomo, whose mayoral run is, in large part, being bankrolled by billionaires and executives in business sectors like real estate and finance. “The pundits are going to say, ‘Oh, it’s going to be too hard to get it passed politically, politicians are going to be afraid to get it passed.’ Well, I’ll tell you this: They’re wrong. And you know how we know they’re wrong? Because we did it before and we’re going to do it again.”
Cuomo didn’t offer much detail on how he’d get the proposal across the finish line in Albany other than to say his team will work with labor unions to “organize the working men and women of this city” to support a higher minimum wage.
“I can’t tell you how proud I am to be the labor candidate in this race,” Cuomo, who has been endorsed by several of the city’s most influential private-sector unions, told a room crowded with members from 1199 and other labor groups.
Cuomo isn’t the only mayoral candidate to back a minimum wage increase. Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who’s consistently polling as the runner-up to Cuomo in June’s primary, has unveiled a plan that would get the city’s minimum hourly wage to $30 by 2030.
Some advocates worry a minimum wage jump could hamper small businesses in the city facing steep operational cost increases due President Trump’s tariff policies, a drop in international tourism to New York and other factors.
“A wage increase like this would mostly impact small businesses, as they have minimum-wage workers, and I just hope Cuomo and any other candidates who have indicated support for an increase have consulted with them,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit advocating for local businesses. “Otherwise, this could be a prospect that makes small businesses very nervous. The fear is they’ll have to lay people off or ultimately close.”
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said small business leaders will be part of any wage increase conversations if the ex-gov is elected mayor.
