Minimum wage increases go into effect in 20 states today, bringing the total of states that exceed the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour to 29.

The increases, of course, are marginal at best. New Jersey's minimum wage, for example, has increased to $8.38/hour from $8.25—a result of automatically adjusting for inflation. A report by the New Jersey Policy Perspective found that a "survival budget" in that state for a single person would require a wage of $13.78/hour.

"That's going to be unnoticeable, really," Gary Burtless, an economist at the Brookings Institution, told the New York Times. "If you're talking about an increase of a buck or two bucks, then maybe there's some kind of noticeable effect."

But some states are getting more ambitious, passing laws that mandate wage increases in 2016, 2017, and even 2018. Vermont passed a law that will bring the state's minimum wage up to $10.50 per hour in 2018, Al Jazeera America reports.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, Arkansas, Hawaii, Maryland, Nebraska, South Dakota, and West Virginia's minimum wage will be greater than the federal level for the first time. Other states that will see increases today are Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

The minimum wage in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington will also increase due to "automatic adjustments to keep wages in line with inflation," the Monitor reports.

Also, Alaska's minimum wage will increase in late february and Washington, D.C.'s in mid-2015.

The federal minimum wage has not increased since 2007.

[Image via AP Images]