Washington officials announced Thursday that the minimum wage will increase by 80 cents, from $13.69 to $14.49 per hour, starting Jan. 1, 2022.
The 5.83 percent increase was based on the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Washington’s minimum wage changes annually based on the index.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that the increase was driven by more expensive gasoline, housing, household furnishings and food, according to a news release on Thursday.
This year, Washington’s minimum wage increased by 19 cents per hour on Jan. 1.
In 2018, an estimated 6,800 people fell into the category of minimum-wage workers in Clark County. That number has likely increased with the county’s growing population. The most recent number of minimum-wage workers was not available Thursday.
The changes stem back to a 2016 initiative, I-1433, which increased the minimum wage to $11 at the start of 2017, to $11.50 in 2018, and to $13.50 in 2020. Since 2021, Labor & Industries has adjusted the minimum wage based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, which will continue in the future.
The state is also increasing the minimum salary that an employee must earn in 2022 to be exempt from overtime pay.
“Under the state’s rules governing exemptions to the Minimum Wage Act, salaried exempt employees must earn at least a minimum salary that is established as a multiplier of the minimum wage. Therefore, when the minimum wage increases, so does the salary threshold,” the news release stated.
For next year, an employee must earn 1.75 times the minimum wage, or $52,743.60 a year, to fall into the category of being exempt from overtime pay. That number will increase every year until it reaches a multiplier of 2.5 times of minimum wage in 2028.
