STATESTATS

Minimum Wages Up State Minimum he new year is looking like a good one for minimum wage workers. Wages as of In November’s election, voters in four states approved ballot measures increasing the lowest January 2017 wage permitted by law. It could mean incremental pay raises for more than 2 million workers None over the next four years, according to the Fairness Project, which supported the initiatives. Alabama T Alaska $9.75 In 18 states, workers will begin the year with higher minimum wages thanks to legislation passed in $10.00 2014 and 2015, or to automatic increases tied to the rising cost of living. Arkansas $8.50 $10.50 Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia now have set their hourly minimum wages above $9.30 the federal level of $7.25. Two states—Georgia and Wyoming—have minimums below that, at $5.15 Connecticut $10.10 per hour. California and Massachusetts have the nation’s highest state minimum wages, both at $10 per Delaware $8.25 $8.10 hour. Some cities have set their own hourly minimums, and Emeryville, California, currently has the Georgia $5.15 nation’s highest: $14.82. Hawaii $9.25 The minimum wage is a perennially contentious issue at the federal level. Would an increase reduce $7.25 Illinois $8.25 poverty or increase it? Would it boost productivity or force businesses to cut jobs? Would it lessen income Indiana $7.25 inequality or put young workers at a disadvantage? The list of questions—all defying easy answers—goes Iowa $7.25 on. There’s been no change in the federal wage in seven years. The states and some cities, however, are Kansas $7.25 Kentucky $7.25 responding with their own approaches, reflecting regional variations in job markets and cost of living. Louisiana None —Kevin Frazzini $9.00 Maryland $8.75 Minimums Go Up Massachusetts $11.00 Michigan $8.90 In the last three years, minimum wages have increased Minnesota $9.50/$7.75* beyond cost of living adjustments in 21 states. Mississippi None $7.70 Montana $8.15/$4.00* Nebraska $9.00 Nevada $8.25/$7.25* New Hampshire $7.25 New Jersey $8.44 New Mexico $7.50 New York $11.00 North Carolina $7.25 RI North Dakota $7.25 DC Ohio $8.15/$7.25* $7.25/$2.00* Oregon $9.75 Pennsylvania $7.25 Rhode Island $9.60 South Carolina None South Dakota $8.75 Voters approved ballot measures in 2016. Tennessee None Texas $7.25 Legislatures passed or enacted laws in 2016. $7.25 Voters approved ballot measures in 2014. Vermont $10.00 Legislatures enacted laws in 2014 or 2015. Virginia $7.25 Have not adopted a minimum wage. $11.00 Tie wage increases to the cost of living. Source: NCSL, Nov. 15, 2016 West Virginia $8.75 Wisconsin $7.25 Wyoming $5.15

Minimum Trivia District of $11.50 Columbia 1938 25¢ an 22 $7.25 an American Samoa Varies Year federal hour Times Congress has hour Guam $8.25 Puerto Rico $7.25/$5.08 minimum wage First minimum increased the federal Current federal Virgin Islands $7.25/$4.30 was established wage wage minimum wage *States with wage 11 Oklahoma 2009 5 requirements that vary depending on employers’ States that enacted State with the first Year Congress last States that use annual sales volume or minimum wages for minimum wage law increased federal only the federal number of employees, or women and minors before (covering just men) in minimum wage, upping minimum both. Source: NCSL the federal one was set 1938 it 70 cents wage

STATE LEGISLATURES 29 JANUARY 2017