Ten states have increased their minimum wages for 2013. How will that affect your business?
As of January 1, 10 states increased their minimum wages by between 10 cents and 35 cents per hour. Analysts expect these boosts in minimum wage to affect more than 1 million workers in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Rhode Island is the only state where an increase was made by choice by the governor; the other states’ increases were part of required annual increases to adjust for inflation.
In addition to the minimum wage going up, many pay scales that are derived using the minimum wage as a base will also increase.
With this latest round of increases, there are now 19 states (plus Washington, DC) that have minimum wage laws that exceed the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. States may pass legislation above the federal minimum but can’t have a minimum wage below that. At the federal minimum, a full-time worker would earn $15,000 per year. Most minimum wage earners, however, are either part-time workers, students or members of a household with multiple income earners.
About small business finance expert Mike Periu
Mike Periu has experience in small business finance. He founded Proximo, LLC a company that offers consumer and small business training services focused on technology and money.
Mike Periu teaches individual empowerment through entrepreneurship and financial literacy. He has appeared 500+ times on television and radio. Visit the Reach and Media pages of his website to learn more about where he has appeared.
You can read more of Mike’s articles on his blog or at American Express OpenForum, Yahoo! Finanzas and the Huffington Post.
Mike has a degree in International Business and Finance which he received at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He received a Fellowship from the Kauffman Foundation for the Labs for Enterprise Creation program in Kansas City.
