Minimum Wages Headed Up In Eight States

Eight of the 10 states that tie annual wage increases to inflation have announced minimum wage increases this year.

Arizona, Missouri and Vermont will increase their minimum wages on Jan. 1. In Arizona, wages will climb to $7.80 per hour from $7.65. Missourians will see an increase to $7.35 from $7.25.

In Vermont, the Labor Department has announced the state minimum wage will increase to $8.60 on Jan. 1, 2013, from $8.46. All three states have approved increases in the minimum cash wage for tipped employees as well.

Florida, Montana, Ohio, Oregon and Washington announced increases earlier this fall. At press-time, Colorado was expected to approve a new 2013 wage level, and Nevada typically adjusts its wage on July 1 rather than Jan. 1.

Four cities in California and New Mexico also tie their wages to inflation. The minimum wage in Santa Fe, N.M., currently the highest in the nation at $10.29 an hour, could rise again in March 2013, although business owners have begun pushing local legislators to freeze the rate. The minimum wage in San Francisco will rise to $10.55 an hour on Jan. 1, from $10.24.

And voters in San Jose, Calif., and Albuquerque, N.M., this month rubber-stamped wage hikes in 2013, with mandatory annual indexing thereafter. Albuquerque’s Jan.1 increase will move the starting wage to $8.50. San Jose’s voter-approved minimum wage increase will move the wage to $10 an hour by mid-March 2013.