Hunton Retail Law Resource

As the new year gets off to a start, employers in the retail industry will be making wage adjustments to meet current and future minimum wage increases.  Employees in 21 states around the country will see their state’s minimum wage increase.

States Where Minimum Wage is Increasing in 2019

Employers in these states must be ready to implement the higher minimum wage.  The current federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour will remain unchanged.  Employers in states with no state minimum wage (Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee) are still required to meet the federal minimum wage.  The Department of Labor’s website provides current state and federal minimum wage information for all US states and territories.

Several of these states have plans for a progressive rollout of the minimum wage increase, with gradual increases to continue in future years.  For example, Missouri increased its minimum wage from $7.85/hr. to $8.60/hr. on January 1, 2019, and will increase it again to $9.45/hr. on January 1, 2020, to $10.30/hr. on January 1, 2021, to $11.15/hr. on January 1, 2022, and to $12.00/hr. on January 1, 2023.  Washington and Arkansas implemented a similar progressive wage increase through 2020 and 2021, respectively.  While most of the wage increases became effective on January 1, some states, including Michigan, Oregon, and the District of Columbia, have set the increase to occur later in the year.