Washington's Minimum Wage Will Rise Friday

OLYMPIA, WA — Workers making minimum wage will see a slight increase to their paychecks starting Friday, as the state's minimum wage will be raised at the beginning of the new year.

As of Jan 1, 2021, Washington's minimum wage will be $13.69 per hour — up from $13.50 per hour in 2020. The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries says the 19 cent raise is based on a 1.39 percent increase in Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers over the past year.

Some local jurisdictions will see their wages rise even higher: in Seattle the minimum wage will be boosted from $15.75 to $16.69 per hour. Similarly, SeaTac's minimum wage will grow to $16.57 per hour.

While it is an increase over the year before, for many it won't be as significant a change as in years past. Back in 2016, the minimum wage was just $9.47 per hour, but it rose dramatically thanks to voters who passed Initiative 1433, which mandated the state increase the minimum wage every year until it reached $13.50 by 2020. For every year after 2020, L&I is required to adjust the minimum wage to match the increased cost of living as calculated by the Consumer Price Index — hence the 19 cent increase for 2021.

The state's minimum wage also only applies to workers 16 and older. Under Washington state law, workers 14 and 15 can work for just 85 percent of the minimum wage, meaning they'll make $11.64 an hour in 2021.

The change to the minimum wage also changes the thresholds businesses must meet to keep full time employees from accruing overtime pay.

For a business with 50 or fewer employees, an employee must make a salary of at least 1.5 times the minimum wage to be overtime exempt. In 2021, that's $821.40 a week or $42,712.80 each year.

Businesses with more than 50 employees have to pay their workers 1.75 times the minimum wage to avoid overtime pay. For those businesses, that means a wage of $958.30 a week or $49,831.60 per year.

Learn more about the minimum wage from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.