Washington State Hiking Minimum Wage to $9.32
It is one of 10 states that tie their minimum wages to inflation and the Consumer Price Index.
Washington state's Department of Labor & Industries recently announced the state’s minimum wage will rise by 13 cents to $9.32 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2014.
L&I calculates the state's minimum wage annually, obeying a measure named Initiative 688 that Washington voters approved in 1998. This increase follows a 1.455 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers during the year that ended Aug. 31, 2013, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Ten states adjusts their minimum wages according to inflation and the CPI -- Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington, which already has the highest minimum wage. Oregon, which recently announced its 2014 minimum wage will rise by 15 cents to $9.10 per hour, is second.
The agency noted 14 and 15-year-olds may be paid 85 percent of the adult minimum wage, or $7.92 per hour, in 2014. For more information, visit Wages.Lni.wa.gov.