NEW YORK - For many New Yorkers, the new year will mean a slightly higher pay check.
In the city, the minimum wage is set to rise from $9 to $11 per hour.
For businesses with less than 10 employees, wages will increase to $10.50 an hour.
The minimum wage for the rest of the state will climb to $9.50 an hour.
New Yorkers say while the pay bump will be nice, but it's still difficult to make ends meet.
"It will help, but it’s not still making it better. I think $15 an hour will help, but not 11," said one New Yorker.
"I would be able to afford better books, a little bit of clothes. And I would have a little bit more money in my pocket. Sometimes you go broke the same day you get paid. And that hurts a lot because you work all the way throughout the week," said another New Yorker.
The wage increase is part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s multi-tier plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and require paid family leave by 2018 for employees of large businesses throughout the city.
Elsewhere throughout the state, the wage will jump to $12.50 by the end of 2022.