By Lorena Roque  

Last week’s election brought significant victories for the advancement of nationwide pro-worker policies, including increases to the minimum wage and paid sick leave policies. These wins signify a desire for working people in the U.S. to achieve more economic equity.  

Voters in Missouri and Alaska approved initiatives to increase the state minimum wage to $15 per hour. Studies show that this would increase wages for approximately 30,000 workers in Alaska and 560,000 workers in Missouri. The current minimum wage in Alaska is $11.73 while the living wage for workers in the state is approximately $23.26. The current minimum wage in Missouri is $12.30 per hour in 2024; however, the living wage for one adult and no children is calculated to be approximately $20.20 per hour. Due to low wages around the country, approximately 6.4 million workers—almost three million of whom are full-time workers—live in poverty. These minimum wage ballot initiatives were essential in providing wages closer to the living wage for workers in these states and greatly affect women and workers of color, who were overrepresented as the working poor as of 2022.  

Voters in Alaska, Missouri, and Nebraska all approved initiatives to grant paid sick leave to eligible workers. Nebraska’s Measure 436 gives workers the right to earn up to 56 hours a year, depending on the size of their employer. Most Alaskans are now entitled to at least 40 hours, and possibly 56 hours or more, of paid sick leave each year. And in Missouri, workers will earn one hour of paid sick time for every 30 hours they work (this measure does provide an exception for businesses with less than 15 employees, who are still entitled to at least seven sick days per year). This new paid sick leave policy will reach 728,000 Missouri private sector workers.  

The absence of paid sick leave policies disproportionately affects families with low incomes, women of color, and workers in the U.S. South. The inability of employees to take paid time off to tend to their health or care for family members has had a profound impact on the U.S. economy; the Department of Labor estimates that, if women in the U.S. were able to participate in the labor force at the same rate as women in Germany and Canada (which both have national paid leave policies), the country would generate an additional $775 billion in economic activity annually. 

CLASP and our partners will continue our decades-long work to enact a national paid sick leave policy in the U.S. while supporting minimum wage increases. Still, we recognize the significance of these state-level victories. These three initiatives all passed by resounding margins, ranging from 56.5 percent in Alaska to more than 74 percent in Nebraska, bringing the total number of states with formal paid sick leave policies to eighteen plus Washington, D.C. While Missouri passed their initiative for increases in wages and paid sick leave by 58 percent voting in favor.  

Working people across the United States are demanding higher wages and more benefits such as paid sick leave. Pro-worker policies are essential in establishing an equitable economy and closing racial gaps in wages. As the popularity of these state initiatives soar, the U.S. Congress should prioritize centering workers and passing policies that achieve higher earnings and a better quality of life for workers in the country.