BOSTON – Massachusetts is “on course to have the highest minimum wage of any state in the country,” reports the Boston Globe.

Last week Governor Deval Patrick signed into law a bill raising the minimum wage incrementally by one dollar a year: $9 on Jan. 1, 2015; $10 on Jan. 1, 2016, and $11 on Jan. 1, 2017.

“Raising the minimum is about bringing a little relief to the working poor, many of whom do jobs we could not live without and who, by the way, will recycle that money right back into the economy,” Patrick said at a signing ceremony.

The Boston Globe writes that more than 600,000 workers could see a bump in pay from the minimum wage increase, according to the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center — 85% of them above the age of 20. However, the increase “won’t do much to address ever-widening income inequality,” notes the newspaper, adding that according to the Brookings Institution, “Boston has the fourth-largest gap between rich and poor among the country’s 50 largest cities.”

Furthermore, the new law isn’t tied to inflation, meaning that as prices for groceries, rent and electricity rise, “workers will fall further behind. … The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center estimates that by 2017, $11 will be worth $10.32 in today’s dollars.”