The move was a drastic departure from the policy of her predecessor, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), who vetoed the $15 minimum wage proposal during his term and urged the state to follow a free-market formula corresponding to the needs of each region of the state.
Between the wealthy Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., the military-based industry of the southeast, and the rural, farm-based economy of the southwest, Virginia is one of the most economically diverse and unequal states in the U.S. With the prominent cost of living differences across the state, Virginians making minimum wage and Virginia’s small business owners live in different circumstances in Arlington than they do outside of southwestern Roanoke.
“The $15 wage an hour can easily be absorbed in Northern Virginia, where the costs of living are already high,” Dr. David Bieri, Associate Professor of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, told the Washington Examiner.
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