Minimum wage hike among first Minn. bills

Published 10:37 am Thursday, January 10, 2013

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A big jump in Minnesota’s minimum wage could be on the horizon.

Among the priority bills in the Democratic-controlled Legislature is a proposal to raise the floor wage to $7.50 for most workers at the bottom rung beginning in August.

That’s $1.35 more than the current hourly minimum that large employers must pay their employers. Smaller businesses, as defined by their annual sales, pay a lower rate but that would rise as well.

The bill introduced in the state Senate goes further by making future increases automatic and linked to inflation. The minimum wage last went up in 2005.

Many minimum-wage workers in Minnesota automatically receive the higher federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, although some workers such as babysitters, taxi drivers, nonprofit volunteers and others are exempt.