Federal Minimum Wage Goes Up Today
From $6.55 an hour to $7.25. Many small business owners, including restaurateurs, are worried it will affect their ability to survive the crap economy. Of course, this will help a lot of our friends in the food and beverage industry—if indeed their employers don't claim the tip exemption; those workers' hourly minimum remains frozen at $2.13, same as it has been since 1991.
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4 Comments:
Interesting. Regarding the tip exemption: I've waitressed in New Jersey, New York, and Georgia. In NY, I earned $2.13 an hour in NJ and GA, but $4.65 in NY. Wonder what the difference is there.
unpocojmoney at 11:51AM on 07/24/09
New York state or NYC might have a state or city minimum wage that's higher than the federal.
Adam Kuban at 12:01PM on 07/24/09
For more information about tipped workers and the minimum wage, take a look at this report from the National Employment Law Project: http://nelp.3cdn.net/bff44d5fafbd9d2175_vem6ivjjb.pdf. The statistics are pretty shocking.
mhirsch at 12:16PM on 07/24/09
Minimum wage in Washington state is the highest, at $8.55. It's a struggle on restaurants, as I know first hand...today our restaurant employs only 8, whereas last year we had 15.
tonks442 at 1:05PM on 07/24/09