Florida’s hourly minimum wage will increase by a dime next year

Minimum-wage workers in Florida will receive a small pay increase with the start of the new year. The state’s minimum wage will increase from $8.46 to $8.56 an hour on Jan. 1, with a minimum wage of at least $5.54 an hour for tipped employees, according to the state Department of Economic Opportunity.

Florida voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment that increases the state minimum wage each year based on inflation. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Florida voters in November 2020 will cast ballots on a proposal that would gradually raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour. That proposal, which will appear on the ballot as Amendment 2, would increase the minimum wage to $10 an hour on Sept. 30, 2021, and subsequently increase it by $1 an hour each year until it hits $15 on Sept. 30, 2026.

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This article appears in The 12 Pups of Christmas.