State minimum wage will hold steady in 2010
January 6, 2010
By Administrator
NEW — 12:55 p.m. Jan. 6, 2010
The minimum wage in Washington will not increase in 2010, state Department of Labor & Industries officials reminded employers and workers last week.
The wage will remain $8.55 an hour, because the Consumer Price Index did not increase in the past 12 months.
The year marks the first time there will be no increase in the state’s minimum wage since voters indexed the wage to the Consumer Price Index 11 years ago.
The state minimum wage applies to workers in both agriculture and nonagricultural jobs, although 14- and 15-year-old workers may be paid 85 percent of the minimum wage, or $7.27 an hour.
Initiative 688, approved by Washington voters in 1998, requires the department to make a cost-of-living adjustment to the minimum wage each year based on the Consumer Price Index for certain workers.
The federal Consumer Price Index is a national index covering the cost of goods and services needed for day-to-day living. The index decreased 1.9 percent during the 12?month period ending in August 2009, compared to a 5.9 percent increase during the same period in 2008, which led to a 48-cents-an-hour increase in the 2009 minimum wage.
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