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North Dakota Minimum Wage Update

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In

North Dakota, when the federal minimum wage went up, why did the state minimum wage go up, too?

North Dakota is one of a number of states where the state minimum wage does not specify a dollar amount. Instead, the statute requires that the state rate be the same as the federal minimum wage. This extends the same wage protection to a larger group of employees.

So, on July 24, 2007, when the federal minimum wage increased by 70 cents from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 per hour, the North Dakota minimum wage increase as well.

The federal rate goes up 70 cents an hour each year on July 24 of 2008 and 2009 thanks to the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. According to the North Dakota minimum wage law, the rate in North Dakota will also go up.

With all these changes, you should remember that, as the owner of a company, you’re required by law to make sure your minimum wage posters are up to date. It applies to posters detailing both the federal and the state minimum wage laws.

North Dakota is not the only state that pegs its minimum wage to the federal rate. Others include Utah, Virginia, and

Oklahoma. Some states, however, won’t change from the $5.15 rate until state legislation is passed. But employers should realize that they might be required to pay the federal minimum wage increase regardless. 

The federal increase was the first one since 1997. The guaranteed three-year increase brings the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. By comparison, Congress has voted itself increases totaling an average of $31,600 per member. The first minimum wage hike, effective this July, amounts to an increase of just $28 a week, or $1,456 a year. Meanwhile, the $5.15 per hour rate just ended had a purchasing power that was lower than the 1950 rate.

Some states have moved ahead of the federal schedule. New Hampshire, Mexico, and Kentucky, as well as Illinois, all saw new minimum wage laws by the spring of 2007.