The federal minimum wage today goes from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. Some states have their own minimum wage. Most states have minimum wage rates higher than the federal wage.
CNN story on Minimum wage hike. Wikipedia on: List of U.S. minimum wages.
This is a list of the minimum wages (per hour) in each state and territory of the United States, for jobs covered by federal minimum wage laws. If the job is not subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, then state, city, or other local laws may determine the minimum wage. A common exemption to the federal minimum wage is a company having revenue of less than $500,000/year while not engaging in any interstate commerce.
Under the federal law, workers that receive a portion of their salary from tips, such as wait staff, are only required to have their total compensation, including tips, to meet the minimum wage, so often their hourly wage, not including tips, is less than the minimum wage.
In addition, some counties and/or cities within states may observe a higher minimum wage than the rest of the state in which they are located; sometimes this higher wage will apply only to businesses that are under contract to the local government itself, while in other cases the higher minimum will be enforced across the board.
Currently, Washington has the highest minimum wages of all 50 states, followed by Oregon and Vermont. Kansas for many years had the lowest state approved minimum wage, set at $2.65, but that will change to $7.25 starting on January 1, 2010. Only 20,000 workers in Kansas are currently paid less than the federal minimum wage.[3] Five states have no minimum wage enacted under state law. In these states, the current federal minimum wage applies for most jobs. Out of the entire country, states or cities, Santa Fe has the highest minimum wage at $9.92 as of January 1, 2009.
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