By: Daily Independent | December 20, 2023
Photo Credit: INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA/BRENT RUFFNER
Customers at Elevate Coffee Co. in the Norterra neighborhood of Phoenix. There could be some Valley businesses unaware of a minimum wage increase that takes effect on Jan. 1.
Arizona’s minimum wage is heading up again, and local businesses are going to have to prepare.
There could be some Valley businesses unaware of the 3.6% increase in the minimum wage that takes effect on Jan. 1, according to Employment Attorney Julie Pace.
The increase is the result of Arizona voters in 2016 approved Prop. 206 — an initiative that requires employers to give minimum wage workers a pay raise on Jan. 1 — to $14.35 per hour, according to the Industrial Commission of Arizona.
With the state’s minimum wage increase related to inflation rates and attempting to keep pace with the rise in Arizona’s cost of living, the increase going into 2024 is less than that which came in 2023 when the rate rose from $12.80 to the current $13.85 per hour, an 8.2% increase.
“I think (business owners) are going to be surprised,” Pace said.
Hotels, restaurants and the construction industry are among the trades effected by the proposition otherwise known as the Fair Wages and Families Act, Pace said.
At a restaurant, the owner might have to increase prices of meals to help cover labor costs, Pace said.