Jefferson Parish employees will see a new minimum wage and pay hike next year in an effort to bolster recruitment and retention within the parish government.
The Jefferson Parish Council voted Wednesday to increase the minimum wage for parish employees to $14.03 per hour — a roughly 12% increase — starting Jan. 1, 2025. Current Jefferson Parish employees with at least two years under the parish government will receive a $750 compression adjustment to their annual salary amount as well.
The adjustments will cost the parish about $4 million a year, according to Victor LaRocca III, a top deputy to Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng.
Parish officials have been evaluating for years how to remain competitive against private companies in the face of skyrocketing costs of living and consistent widespread vacancies.
Councilman Deano Bonano told the chamber the parish faces 500-600 vacancies “on any given month.”
“The only way we’re going to attract more people is to pay more,” Bonano said.
There are 3,850 positions within Jefferson Parish’s government for a total payroll amount of about $138 million.
As of Friday, 598 of those positions were vacant, according to personnel director John Dumas.
The new pay plan comes at the recommendation of the Archer Company, a South Carolina-based human resources consulting firm hired in 2022 to review the parish’s pay plan and determine the feasibility of raising the hourly minimum wage.
“What we find so difficult to compete in the private sector is that we give incredible benefits in government,” Sheng said. “However, dollar for dollar on the hourly rate, we’re not able to compete.”
The council greenlit a cost of living raise of 5% for parish employees last summer out of concern over the local government’s ability to retain its workers.
Though the new salary floor still falls short of neighboring parishes: New Orleans raised its hourly minimum wage to $15 in 2021, while workers in St. Tammany earn at least $15.51 per hour, according to parish spokesman Michael Vinsanau.
Louisiana lacks a statewide minimum wage, meaning employee wages can be as low as the federal rate of $7.25 per hour. Democrats in the state legislature have attempted for years to increase the salary floor to $10 per hour or more, though the efforts have consistently been thwarted by Republicans and business groups.
The federal minimum wage hasn’t increased since 2009.
Meanwhile, 14 states have a minimum wage of $14 or more, as well as Washington, D.C.
Twenty two states increased their minimum wage last January, with the highest of those increases being in the state of Washington for $16.28 per hour.
Four other states lack a state minimum wage entirely: Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.