Minimum Wage

Minimum Wage. I’m Greg Martin with today’s Fruit Grower Report.

I can remember years ago working an hourly wage job and always shouting for joy when the minimum wage would go up. Never did I see the business owners face reacting to having to pay more and more to stay in business. That was in the days of $3 an hour jobs. Now Washington State, which already has the highest minimum wage in the nation, will raise that rate. NW Ag’s Lacy Gray has more.

GRAY: Washington State's minimum wage will increase 37 cents, to $9.06 per hour effective January 1, 2012. Washington's minimum wage applies to workers in both agricultural and non-agricultural jobs. The 2012 adjustment reflects a 4.258 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index. The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) recalculates the state's minimum wage each year in September as required by Initiative 688, which Washington voters approved in 1998.Washington is one of 10 states that adjusts the minimum wage based on inflation and the CPI. The others are Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, and Vermont.

Oregon recently announced that its minimum wage will rise 30 cents to $8.80 an hour in 2012. Ag producers in the state are obviously not looking forward to having to pay more and it will be interesting to see the effects on businesses.

That’s today’s Fruit Grower Report. I’m Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.