Advocates are seeking to push the minimum closer to $15.

Today, California worker activists reached an impressive milestone: starting January, many of the state’s largest businesses will need to start paying employees a minimum of $15 an hour. California is the latest state to mandate such a change as costs of living continue to rise around the country. By next year, roughly half of the United States will see an increase to their mandated minimum wages, though the only ones to reach the threshold of $15 an hour are California and part of New York.

While states have been resistant to raising minimum wages, however, employees may start to see the difference made up by their employers themselves. As a byproduct of the “Great Resignation,” wherein many employees of many businesses around the country have departed in search of higher wages and better accommodations, employers have begun offering more competitive salaries. As a result, this past year was the very first that the average wages for supermarket and restaurant workers rose above $15 an hour.

“It’s a job-seekers’ market, which means competition to keep and find top talent is competitive — and as a great employer, we like it that way,” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert in a letter to employees announcing a wage increase to $20 an hour.

Anti-poverty advocates have been pushing for wage hikes to $15 an hour and beyond as inflation surges at record rates. The wages of a few years ago can no longer sustain a safe and healthy lifestyle, and someone needs to pick up the slack.

“Now, $15 is widely understood to be the bare minimum workers anywhere need to get by. $15 has always been the floor, not the ceiling, for wages — and working people will continue to demand lawmakers and employers increase pay to keep up with the rising cost of living and ensure that every community can thrive,” Allynn Umel, campaign director for the Fight for $15 and a Union, said in a statement to CNBC.