what's the highest minimum wage in the united states
$11.00 per hour
title: Minimum wage in the United States text: Minimum wage in the United States The minimum wage in the United States is set by US labor law and a range of state and local laws. Employers generally have to pay workers the highest minimum wage prescribed by federal, state, and local law. Since July 24, 2009, the federal government has mandated a nationwide minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. As of January 2018, there were 29 states with a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum. From 2017 to 2018, eight states increased their minimum wage levels through automatic adjustments, while increases in eleven other states occurred through title: Minimum wage law text: 2009, U.S. federal law requires a minimum wage of at least $7.25 per hour. Just over 5% of all hourly-paid workers (or approximately 1% of the total U.S. population) earn an hourly wage at or below the minimum wage. Washington has the highest minimum wage of any state in the U.S. at $9.19 per hour as of January 1, 2014; Oregon has the second highest at $9.10 per hour. Then Massachusetts with $9.00 per hour. The next highest state wage rates are in Connecticut, Illinois, Nevada, and the District of Columbia at $8.25 per hour, and then Vermont at $8.06 title: Minimum wage in the United States text: to the May 2009 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, the lowest-paid occupational sectors in May 2009 (when the federal minimum wage was $7.25 per hour) were the following: Minimum wage in the United States The minimum wage in the United States is set by US labor law and a range of state and local laws. Employers generally have to pay workers the highest minimum wage prescribed by federal, state, and local law. Since July 24, 2009, the federal government has mandated a nationwide minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. As of January 2018, there were 29 states with a title: Minimum wage in the United States text: through automatic adjustments, while increases in 11 other states occurred through referendum or legislative action. Beginning in January 2017, Massachusetts and Washington state have the highest minimum wages in the country, at $11.00 per hour. New York City's minimum wage will be $15.00 per hour by the end of 2018. Some large employers in the traditionally low-paying retail sector have declared an internal minimum wage. As of 2018: Jobs that a minimum wage is most likely to directly affect are those that pay close to the minimum. According to the May 2006 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates, the four title: Minimum wage in the United States text: Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, as well as the California cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Long Beach, San Jose, Richmond, and Oakland. In 2016, the District of Columbia Council passed a minimum wage ordinance that included a union waiver, but Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed it. Later that year, the council approved an increase without the union waiver. The federal minimum wage was introduced in 1938 at the rate of $0.25 per hour ($4.78 in 2018 dollars). By 1950 the minimum wage had risen to $0.75 per hour. The minimum wage had its highest purchasing power in 1968, when it was $1.60