The growing push to raise the minimum wage to as much as $15 an hour is creating new issues in the workplace: While some of America’s lowest-paid workers will get fatter paychecks, their veteran colleagues may feel underpaid, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Wage compression poses a financial and management challenge for employers, who say wage increases have rankled some staff unhappy that less experienced co-workers now earn the same wages they spent months or years striving to achieve. Some companies have raised pay for veteran workers, and others plan to offer extra fringe benefits, fearing that valuable workers might otherwise jump ship. Dozens of cities have passed wage increases in the past four years, and New York and California recently approved increases to $15 an hour. Cities considering similar measures include Flagstaff, Ariz.; Minneapolis; Washington, D.C.; Olympia, Wash. and others.
