Minnesota raising minimum wage to reflect inflation

When the New Year arrives, new minimum wage rates will be in effect for Minnesota workers.

The State’s Department of Labor and Industry (MNDLI) announced Wednesday that Minnesota’s minimum wage rates will be adjusted for inflation on January 1, 2023; $10.59 an hour for large employers, and $8.63 an hour for other state minimum wages.

With this increase comes the following requirements:

• Large employers with annual gross revenues of at least $500,000 must pay at least $10.59 an hour.
• Small employers with annual gross revenues of less than $500,000 must pay at least $8.63 an hour.
• The training wage rate, $8.63 an hour, may be paid to employees younger than 20 years old, for the first 90 consecutive days of employment.
• The youth wage rate, $8.63 an hour, may be paid to employees younger than 18 years old.

The State’s minimum wage rates will not apply to employees in Minneapolis and St. Paul, which have higher minumum wage rates as individual cities.

For workers earning the Minnesota minimum hourly wage and working 40 hours a week, annual wages in 2022 are $21,486 for workers at large employers and $17,514 for workers at small employers, according to MNDLI. The 2022 Minnesota large-employer minimum wage of $10.33 an hour is below the average rate of the federal minimum wage for 1960 through 1981, which adjusting for inflation was $11.71.