If you are reading this article, you are probably curious what the current minimum wage is for your state in 2018? The good news is that 18 states and 20 cities have elected to increase their minimum wage sometime during 2018 fiscal year.
Although the Federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 for non-exempt "hourly" employees, each City and State can at its' discretion mandate a higher wage. Below is a list of States that have elected to increase their local minimum wage for 2018. It should be noted that many of these increases are tied to inflation values and therefore offer minimum benefit to the worker. Although some increases are nominal, most are well above the federal minimum wage.
Last month I wrote an article describing a Non-Exempt (Hourly) Employee and the introduction of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The federal government provides the base-line "floor" minimum wage that an employee can be paid. The law allows each State to determine what it considers fair base wage as long as its' equal to or greater than the federal minimum of $7.25/hr. The basic idea is that a local government pass laws to increase the local minimum wage.
Originally the minimum wage was created to stabilize the post-depression economy. However, I suspect that local governments continue to increase wages for this same reasons today - stability.
There are some types of employee that are exempt from the federal minimum wage.
https://www.laborlawcenter.com/state-minimum-wage-rates/ Federal and State minimum wage.
