Washington’s minimum wage rising to $9.04

Washington state’s minimum wage will rise to $9.04 next year, keeping it as the highest hourly rate in the nation. That’s a 37-cent-an-hour increase, which is based on a change to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, according to the state Department of Labor & Industries. Washington voters approved an initiative in 1998 tying the state minimum wage to inflation. The particular index used to calculate minimum wage measures price changes in goods and services purchased by urban wage earners and clerical workers, such as food, clothing, shelter and services, according to a news release. Fuel costs topped the price increases in the index over the last year, the release said. Washington is one of 10 states that adjusts its minimum wage based on inflation. Oregon has the second-highest minimum wage; that state recently announced that its per-hour wage will rise 30 cents to $8.80 an hour next year. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.