Minimum Wage Updates

This campaign season we have had snippets from activists pushing for and against the national minimum wage of $15.00.  Nothing substantive will happen at the federal level to raise the minimum wage because of the political antagonism that this issue brings to the parties.  By next January that could change depending on the upcoming elections.  At the state level, however, there have been many new laws increasing the minimum wage over the past several years since this $15/hour activism began.  Given that Minnesota on August 1, 2016, implemented the third phase of its increase now bringing the state’s minimum wage to $9.50/hour, it is worth reviewing other states’ changes for 2016 and beyond:

NOTABLE CHANGES IN 2016:

• Minnesota increases to $9.50, inflation indexing begins January 1, 2018

• California increases to $15.00 by January 1, 2022, for larger employers with 26+ employees; for employers with fewer than 26 employees implementation of the wage will occur January 1, 2023

• New York increases to $15.00 by end of 2018

• Washington D.C. increases to $15 by July 1, 2020

• Maryland increases to $8.75 in 2016, to $10.10 by 2018

• Oregon increases to $12.50-14.75 by 2022, depending on geographic location within state

• Eight of the eleven states that tie minimum wage increases to cost of living or inflation did not increase their minimum wages in 2016. South Dakota was one of the few exceptions, increasing theirs by $.05.

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