Workers in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, DC will be entitled to a higher minimum wage starting on July 1.

Alaska’s minimum wage will increase to $13 an hour, from $11.91, while Washington, DC’s will rise to $17.95 per hour, from $17.50.

Oregon’s minimum wage differs by region, so workers in the Portland metro area must earn at least $16.30 an hour, up from $15.95, by July 1. Those in non-urban counties will be entitled to $14.05 an hour, up from $13.70, while workers in all other regions will see the minimum wage go up to $15.05, from $14.70.

New minimum wage rates will also take effect in a host of cities and counties starting July 1, including Los Angeles ($17.87), Chicago ($16.60), and Montgomery County, Maryland (at least $15.50), which includes many DC suburbs and is the state’s largest county.

For more on these minimum wage increases and tips for dealing with them, keep reading here.—CV

Millennials might’ve been promised a more stable future and workplace than will exist for them.

Gen Xers and Baby Boomers likely remember a time when a one-company tenure was the norm. Gen Z workers shudder at the thought of that. Older generations also know what it’s like to buy a house for a fraction of its current market value, while many younger professionals probably don’t put home ownership on their vision boards anymore. So, where does that leave millennials? Perhaps, stuck somewhere between the promise of what their parents had and the reality that their kids are born into.

This pressure could be causing higher rates of burnout, as 66% of millennials say they feel “moderate” or “high” levels of burnout compared to 60% of Gen Xers, 56% of Gen Zers, and 39% of Baby Boomers, according to a recent Aflac report.

For more on the perfect storm of stress that many millennials are facing, keep reading here.—MC

Benefits leaders are under pressure to manage rising costs at their organizations.

And as Freddie Mercury sang in Queen’s famous song with David Bowie: “it never rains, but it pours.” Years of increased spending in the healthcare sector coupled with the possibility of a global recession mean that total rewards leaders are dealing with challenges on multiple fronts.

Rising benefit costs were the top issue influencing US employers’ benefit strategies this year, with 90% of respondents citing this factor, up from 67% in 2023, according to a recent report from advisory and brokerage firm WTW. Costs have since eclipsed competition for talent and focus on inclusion and diversity, which were the top issues when WTW did the same study in 2023 and 2021, respectively.

Over the last year or so, US healthcare spending has been rising at the fastest rate in two decades, according to the American Medical Association. That could be due to factors such as innovation, provider consolidation, and the role of intermediaries like pharmacy-benefit managers, said Jeff Levin-Scherz, population health leader with WTW and an assistant professor at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. As a result, “employers are paying much more attention to total cost.”

For more on how benefits leaders are managing higher employee health costs, keep reading here.—CV