Feds to increase minimum wage for the first time in a decade

Congress and the president have agreed to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour in three stages over two years. That amounts to an increase of $2.10 over the current rate of $5.15 per hour. The minimum wage increase was part of the larger bill (HR 2206) to fund the Iraq war, which President Bush signed on May 25th. Read more about the bill here and here.

The first stage of the increase is a seventy cent raise to $5.85 per hour that becomes effective 60 days after the President signed the bill.  The federal increase in the minimum wage will have no impact on wages for workers in Oregon, where the minimum wage is $7.80 per hour, the second highest in the nation. The state with the highest minimum wage is Washington, at $7.93 per hour.