News 12 spoke with an economic expert about New York state's minimum wage pay hike, which is set to take effect on Jan. 1.

The increase will see more money going into the wallets of those with jobs in restaurants, tourism and hospitality, distribution centers and customer service.

The state's minimum wage is set to increase to $16.50 in New York City, Westchester and Long Island, and $15.50 for the rest of the state.

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Pace University economics professor Mark Weinstock warns, however, there will be a price to pay, that not everyone will like.

"The businesses that employ them are going to experience higher costs to operate because of their labor costs. So some of that may very well be passed through to the consumers. So, essentially, if you pay your workers more, the only way to compensate for that is to raise your prices or what you can do is make less profit," Weinstock explains. "There are, however, some minimum wage workers who may not be thrilled about this. And the reason is their jobs may very well disappear at the higher minimum wage."