Minimum Wage Will Be Penny Higher

Tue., Oct. 3, 2000

From Staff

Another day, another eight cents.

The recalculation of the Consumer Price Index announced last week will add one penny to the increase in Washington’s hourly minimum wage that takes effect Jan. 1.

Instead of the $6.71 per hour first announced, the new minimum will be $6.72.

The rate now is $6.50 per hour.

In 1998, Washington voters approved an initiative that tied adjustments in the minimum wage to changes in the federal CPI. The Department of Labor and Industries does the calculation.

The results were raised because the federal Bureau of Labor and Statistics adjusted its figure for the increase in consumer prices from December 1999 through August 2000 to 2.7 percent from 2.6 percent.

The Washington minimum wage applies to all agricultural and nonagricultural workers except those less than 16 years old in nonagricultural jobs. They will receive $5.71, 85 percent of the adult minimum wage.

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Minimum Wage Will Be Penny Higher

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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