Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced that he will put into action his plan to unilaterally make $15 an hour the minimum wage for all state workers by 2021.

This will make New York the first state to set such a high wage for a large group of public employees, according to a report in the New York Times.

Cuomo’s plan will raise the hourly rate gradually, to $15 an hour for state workers in New York City by 2019 and in the rest of the state by the middle of 2021.

About 9,000 of the 10,000 workers in the state who will be affected are outside New York City.

Upstate, there will be a rate of $9.75 an hour by the end of this year, $10.75 by the end of 2016, $11.75 by the end of 2017, $12.75 by the end of 2018, $13.75 by the end of 2019, $14.50 by the end of 2020, and $15 by July 1, 2021.

This follows the governor’s executive action to raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 announced, earlier this year.

Business groups in the state have expressed opposition to such minimum wage hikes in the belief that they would result in fewer jobs statewide and a disaster for the state’s economy.

“With this action, the governor is lifting thousands of low-wage workers,” s statement from the Public Employees Federation said.

“Better wages mean a stronger economy in New York, sustainable jobs, growing families and prospering communities. In an era of outsized executive compensation and a robust stock market, this is a basic step toward fairness in society,” the PEF statement said.