Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Look for the state's minimum wage to go up next week.
Florida is one of eight states that will automatically increase its minimum wage rates on Wednesday, Jan. 1, based on annual cost of living calculations.
According to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (FDEO), which calculates the annual adjustments, the increase will bump up wages 1.12 percent, which translates into a dime, or $8.56 hourly starting in 2020, up from the current $8.46 hourly.
For tipped employees, whose current rate is $5.44 hourly, the new rate will be $5.54 hourly, according to the FDEO.
The federal minimum wage is now $7.25 hourly.
Florida law mandates that the FDEO annually calculate the minimum wage rate, based on the percentage increase in the federal Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers in the South Region during the 12-month period preceding September 1.
That law was established by Amendment 5 – also known as the Florida Minimum Wage Amendment – which Florida voters overwhelmingly approved by 71 percent in 2003.
Upon its enactment in 2004, the amendment established the state's minimum wage at $6.15 hourly, which amount was to be indexed to inflation annually thereafter.
The amendment also provided for enforcement and prohibited retaliation against employees for exercising their right to demand the minimum wage.
Besides Florida, 21 other states are set to see minimum wage increases on the New Year, raising pay for 6.8 million workers across the country, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that was created in 1986 to “include the needs of low-and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions.”
“In total, workers affected by the increases will earn an extra $8.2 billion over the course of 2020 as a result of the changes,” the EPI reports. “The increases range from a $0.10 inflation adjustment in Florida to $1.50 per hour raises in New Mexico and Washington. Affected workers who work year-round will see their annual pay go up between $150 and $1,700 on average, depending on the size of the minimum wage increase in their state.”
On a related matter, Amendment 2, whose language the Florida Supreme Court recently approved for inclusion in the November 2020 ballot, sets the stage for more possible minimum wage increases in the Sunshine State.
As proposed, Amendment 2 would raise Florida's minimum wage incrementally each year in September for five years beginning in 2021, until reaching $15 hourly in 2026.
The exact increases, were the amendment to be approved, would be $10 in 2021, $11 in 2022, $12 in 2023, $13 in 2024, $14 in 2025 and $15 in 2026.
Additionally, per Amendment 5, the state's minimum wage would still increase or decrease annually based on changes in the CPI for urban wage earners and clerical workers.
Ballotpedia notes that from 1988 to 2018, voters have approved 25 of 27 minimum wage increase measures on the ballot, with the measures on average receiving 63-percent voter approval. The last time that voters rejected a minimum wage increase, according to the website, was in Missouri and Montana in 1996.