Minimum Wage Set To Increase in 8 States After New Year

WASHINGTON — Eight states will be raising their minimum wage next week, boosting the pay of more than a million workers across the country.

Most of the raises will be modest, on the order of 28 to 37 cents per hour, but the new rates will translate into hundreds of additional dollars annually for many people who are working yet remain in poverty.

Setting a new benchmark, Washington will become the first state to crack the $9 ceiling, raising its minimum wage from $8.67 to $9.04, which translates for full-time minimum-wage workers into an extra $15 or so in pretax pay each week. The other states raising their rates are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont.

Workers in all of these states owe their raises to the cost-of-living adjustments written into their state laws. Such laws require that the minimum wage be tweaked every year to account for the rising cost of basic necessities, usually pegged to the consumer price index. Ten states, including the eight above, have such laws on the books. Nevada raises its rate during the summer, and although Missouri has a cost-of-living adjustment, this year it will not push the state rate above the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25.

source