Minimum Wage

By Aldo Svaldi
The Denver Post

The new year brings with it a decent bump in pay for about 74,000 Colorado workers earning the minimum wage.

Colorado's minimum wage increases 3.8 percent, or 28 cents, to $7.64 an hour effective today. That's the biggest increase since the state linked its minimum wage to inflation back in 2006.

For an employee making that wage full-time, the increase translates into an extra $582 a year.

On January 1, 74,000 low-wage workers in Colorado will get a 3.8 percent raise when the state's minimum wage goes up by 28¢ to $7.64 per hour. For employees who work full-time all year, this amounts to $582 more per year.

Voters approved Amendment 42 to Colorado's constitution in 2006, raising the minimum wage and requiring that the wage to be adjusted each year by the rate of inflation in Colorado. Inflation increased by 3.8 percent between July 2010 and June 2011, according to the Boulder-Denver-Greeley Consumer Price Index.

By Rita Wold
The Denver Post

Most Colorado minimum-wage workers will see an increase of 11 cents an hour next year to $7.36, based on a small increase in the inflation rate.

The increase is meant to keep the real spending power of minimum-wage earners on pace with inflation – the general price movement of goods and services.

Last year, Colorado's minimum wage was cut from $7.28 an hour to $7.24 because of a drop in inflation. But most employers had to meet the federal minimum wage, which was $7.25 an hour, thus the 11-cent increase.

The minimum wage in Colorado will increase from $7.25 an hour to $7.36 on Saturday. In Colorado, the minimum wage is tied to inflation and adjusts every January 1.

Someone working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks would see their annual income increase from $15,080 to $15,309.

This news comes on the heels of a report released this week by the Denver-based Bell Policy Center study which says that the working poor in Colorado keep falling further behind.

DENVER – Colorado's 57,000 minimum wage workers will see a small spike in their paychecks this year. Wages went up by 11 cents to $7.36 an hour.

A measure was passed in 2006 to adjust the minimum wage amounts each year based on Colorado's inflation rate.

"Any dollar helps," said Rich Jones, Director of Policy with the Bell Policy Center in Denver.

Jones says the small increase will benefit people in the minimum wage bracket.

(Blog entry on The Media Consortium)

By Lindsay Beyerstein

By Jack Weinstein
Steamboat Pilot

Steamboat Springs – The increase of Colorado's minimum wage won't impact workers in Routt County, Yam­pa Valley Partners Executive Director Kate Nowak said Monday.

Starting Saturday, the state's minimum wage work force saw an increase of 11 cents to its hourly earnings, bringing them to $7.36. The state's minimum wage in 2010 actually was $7.24, but because the federal minimum wage of $7.25 was higher, it took precedence. The minimum wage for tipped employees increased to $4.34 an hour from $4.22.

By Kristen Wyatt
Associated Press

DENVER – It will be a happier New Year for nearly 650,000 workers earning minimum wage. They're getting small raises in seven states that tie their salaries to the cost of living.

The minimum wages in those states will go up between 9 cents and 12 cents an hour Saturday because their consumer price indexes rose in 2010.

Colorado's minimum wage will increase by 12¢ next year, rising to $7.36, and that's good news not just for hard-working Coloradans but the rest of the state as well.

A calculation based on this year's inflation rate, an update of a formula approved by voters in 2006, is the reason for the wage increase, but the impact goes far beyond number-crunching. Workers and families in every community of the state will feel the benefits of this small but important change.

By Dan Frosch
The New York Times

DENVER – When Coloradoans voted to tie the state's minimum wage to inflation, they were trying to make sure low-wage workers did not fall too far behind the cost of living. But their vote has had an unintended consequence: Colorado plans to lower its minimum wage next year because of falling inflation rates, becoming the first state in the nation do so.