COLUMBUS – Minimum wage workers in the Buckeye State got a pay bump on Monday when Ohio’s minimum wage increased to $10.45 an hour.
Ohio is one of 22 states getting minimum wage increases in the new year. Ohio Minimum Wage yesterday. In New York and California, the minimum wage increased to $16.
The new wage, which reflects a 35-cent hike, applies to non-tipped workers while the wage for tipped employees went up 20 cents to $5.25 per hour.
The adjustment “protects Ohio’s lowest-paid workers from losing buying power as prices rise,” Policy Matters Ohio economist Michael Shields said. “After a year in which inflation reached 40-year highs, this adjustment will protect wages for nearly half a million Ohio workers.”
The Economic Policy Institute estimates the adjustment will benefit some 388,800 Ohioans: the 150,700 workers now paid less than $10.45 and 238,100 currently paid a little more who will get a likely boost as employers adjust pay scales.
The minimum wage will apply to employees of businesses with annual gross receipts of more than $385,000 per year, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce.
A constitutional amendment passed by Ohio voters in 2006 states requires Ohio’s minimum wage to increase on Jan. 1 each year by the rate of inflation.
The state minimum wage is tied to the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers over the 12-month period prior to September. The index increased by 3.7 % between Sept. 1, 2022, and Aug. 31.
For employees at smaller companies and for 14- and 15-year-olds, the state’s minimum wage remained at $7.25 per hour because it is tied to the federal minimum wage.