New Jersey’s minimum wage will rise to $15.49 for most workers at the start of the new year, state labor officials announced Tuesday. New Jersey Monitor reports the 36-cent increase is the first annual inflation adjustment to the state’s wage floor following a six-year phase-in that was meant to bring the minimum wage to $15, though high inflation in 2023 spurred an indexing adjustment that brought minimum hourly pay to $15.13 instead.