The minimum wage in upstate counties in New York will increase by 70 cents on the first day of 2022. But the broader fight over the wage in the future may be starting soon in Albany. 

Progressives on Tuesday called for a higher wage for upstate workers, who will have their minimum hourly pay grow from $12.50 to $13.20 at the onset of 2022. 

Advocates like Michael Kink, of Strong Economy for All, have long argued the governor can increase the wage through convening a labor board. And the pay upstate should match New York City's: $15 an hour. 

"A tight labor market is a really good time to raise the minimum wage," he said. "And that's why Gov. Hochul should have taken it to $15."

In 2016, state lawmakers and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo agreed to an increase in the minimum wage following a sustained pressure campaign from labor unions and advocates who had sought a $15 hourly wage.

But the phased-in hikes were spread out over geographic regions of the state. The move was reflective, lawmakers said at the time, of the differences in the cost of living in, say, Brooklyn versus Utica. 

The current economic picture in New York is far different given the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic recovery this summer and the at-times desperate search by businesses to find workers to meet pent-up demand.

"Workers haven't got the benefits of the productivity that they put into their work," Kink said. "It's not bad to raise wages based on cost of living and productivity. I just think she should have started at $15."

But business groups see the wage increase differently. Greg Biryla, of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, said the continued talk of raising the wage will make the state even less business friendly. 

"We never look at the other side of the ledger and what can we do to ease the cost of business in making New York's business environment more friendly," he said. 

Biryla said state officials don't take into consideration the additional costs of raising the wage on employers, who are already juggling the continued uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"The challenges that they continue to face caused by the pandemic and caused by the short sighted policy making, they continue," he said. "And it's the next straw on the camel's back for small business."