Fast food workers have been campaigning vigorously throughout the U.S. for wage increases. And it seems that lawmakers are listening, as legislation is being considered in several cities and states while Congressional action on the federal minimum wage remains stuck in debate.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order on Tuesday expanding the reach of the Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act, raising salaries from 11.90 to 13.13 per hour for previously exempt workers. The raise on a typical 8-hour shift would give New Yorkers over $200 more a month.

All employees of commercial tenants on projects that receive more than $1 million in city subsidies will benefit from the new measure. Those workers who receive benefits such as health insurance will see their wages go up $1.20 an hour, from 10.30 to $11.50 an hour.

"We cannot continue to allow rampant and growing income inequality. Every tool counts. If we reach 18,000 families with this tool and get them to a decent standard of living, that's a game-changer for those families," said de Blasio, according to the New York Times.

Estimates are that 18,000 workers will benefit from the Living Wage order when the measure is applied to 70 percent of firms supported by City agencies, according to the Mayor's office.The original law covered about 1,200 jobs.

"This Executive Order corrects the glaring omission in the City's living wage ordinance that left out commercial tenants on projects the City subsidizes ... Since the recession began in 2008, the inflation-adjusted wages of the typical low-wage NYC worker have dropped by nearly 9 percent, while the earnings of a typical high-wage worker rose by 6 percent," said James Parrott, Deputy Director and Chief Economist, Fiscal Policy Institute.

Parrott said he hopes the next step will be for Albany to raise the state minimum wage and give New York City the authority to set its own minimum wage which he thinks will help nearly a million low-wage New York City workers.

Approximately 4,100 jobs covered under the new standards would be held by employees in retail and fast-food businesses that traditionally pay close to minimum wage. The wages will also be matched to changes in the Consumer Price Index, and estimates are by 2019 the minimum wage could be $15.00 an hour. The measure will be enforced by the Department of Consumer Affairs.

There are exemptions to the measure -- it won't affect businesses with gross income below $3 million, housing projects with more than 75 percent affordable units, or manufacturers.

For workers earning the state's minimum wage of $8 per hour, a Living Wage would increase their gross income from $16,640 to $27,310 per year.

New York is the first to take action on increasing minimum wage. Last week Los Angeles city council voted to raise wages of workers at large hotels to $15.37, and San Francisco, Santa Fe, San Jose and Washington are among cities that have voted to increase the minimum wage above the proposed $10.10 federal level.

Four states have proposed legislation to raise the minimum wage at least to 10.10 an hour - Connecticut, Maryland, Hawaii and Vermont, and three others with smaller increases -- Minnesota, Virginia and Delaware.

President Obama backed a bill to raise the federal minimum hourly wage from $7.25 to $10.10 by late 2016, but that bill has stalled in Congress due to Republican opposition.