Minimum wage workers will get a pay raise in 2018

With the new year, a new hourly wage will be coming for Washington state’s minimum wage earners.

Starting Jan. 1, the minimum wage statewide will go to $11.50 an hour from $11 an hour. The increase is the result of a statewide ballot issue voters approved in 2016.

For full-time minimum wage workers, that means roughly another $1,000 in their pockets by the end of the year.

Voters in several cities also approved minimum wage hikes. All will be higher than the state minimum.