Colorado minimum wage set to fall, By Aldo Svaldi, October 13, 2009, Denver Post: “Colorado’s minimum wage is set to decline next year due to a decrease in the inflation rate during the first half of the year, according to an order from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment. The new order would lower the state’s current hourly minimum of $7.28 to $7.24 on Jan. 1. Most employers, however, will still have to meet the federal minimum wage, which rose to $7.25 in July. For a full-time worker, going from $7.28 to the federal hourly minimum will result in a loss of $62.40 in income during the course of a year…”

Low-wage workers are often cheated, study says, By Steven Greenhouse, September 1, 2009, New York Times: “Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. The study, the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade, also found that 68 percent of the workers interviewed had experienced at least one pay-related violation in the previous work week. ‘We were all surprised by the high prevalence rate,’ said Ruth Milkman, one of the study’s authors and a sociology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the City University of New York. The study, to be released on Wednesday, was financed by the Ford, Joyce, Haynes and Russell Sage Foundations. In surveying 4,387 workers in various low-wage industries, including apparel manufacturing, child care and discount retailing, the researchers found that the typical worker had lost $51 the previous week through wage violations, out of average weekly earnings of $339. That translates into a 15 percent loss in pay…”

Colo. could be 1st state to lower minimum wage, By Kristen Wyatt (AP), August 19, 2009, Denver Post: “Colorado’s lowest-paid workers could make even less money next year. That’s because the state has an adjustable minimum wage that may become the first in the nation to drop slightly along with the cost of living. Colorado is one of 10 states where the minimum wage is tied to inflation. The indexing is thought to protect low-wage workers from having flat wages as the cost of living goes up. But because Colorado’s provision allows wage declines, the minimum wage could actually drop 3 cents an hour next year. If the wage is reduced by state labor officials in September as expected, it would be the first minimum wage decrease in any state since the federal minimum wage law was passed in 1938…”

• Opinions split on how hike in wage affects the economy, By Diane Stafford and Tony Pugh, July 26, 2009, Buffalo News: “The federal minimum wage rose from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour on Friday, bringing with it controversy about whether the increase is good or bad for the economy.  The raise, which affects about 4 million workers nationally, is the third and final increase mandated by Congress in 2007…”
• Raising the bar: Minimum wage hike benefits seniors returning to work, By Vernon Tarver, July 26, 2009, Northwest Arkansas Times: “For minimum wage workers, Friday was a good day indeed. Federal minimum wages increased to $7.25 for employees covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, meaning workers receiving minimum pay in Arkansas can look forward to a 70-cent increase in hourly wages…”
• Minimum wage for tipped workers unchanged since 91, By Tony Pugh, July 24, 2009, Miami Herald: “Friday’s increase in the federal minimum wage left Leanne Foti feeling a little hollow. A single mother of two, Foti works as a waitress at the Bridgewater Diner in Bridgewater, N.J.  So her base pay of $2.13 per hour didn’t budge Friday when the federal minimum wage went from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour.  Foti, 34, is one of roughly 146,000 Americans - many of them restaurant, hotel, car wash and nail salon employees - who are paid mainly through customer tips and therefore earn a lower federal minimum wage, $2.13 an hour…”
• Not everyone sees increase in paychecks, By Rhiannon Meyers, July 26, 2009, Galveston County Daily News: “After 30 years of waiting tables, Paula Baker earns just $1.03 more an hour than she did when she started working in the early 1960s. So although millions of minimum-wage earners received a raise Friday, the League City waitress, who’s been struggling for years to make ends meet, did not…”

• Minimum wages to rise in 31 states, By Tony Romm, July 24, 2009, Stateline.org: “Minimum-wage earners in 31 states and the District of Columbia can soon expect slightly bigger paychecks thanks to the third and final installment of a federal rate hike that raises the wage floor from $6.55 an hour to $7.25 an hour effective Friday (July 24).  The latest federal bump will enlarge roughly 4.5 million workers’ paychecks by about four cents an hour in some states to almost $1 an hour in others, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, D.C. that supported the increase…”
• Some attack timing of minimum wage hike, By V. Dion Haynes and Emma L. Carew, July 24, 2009, Washington Post: “The federal minimum wage will rise to $7.25 from $6.55 an hour Friday, an increase aimed at giving workers at carwashes, restaurants, child-care centers and retail shops more buying power but one that has sparked criticism from some small-business owners, who say it could threaten their ability to survive in a weak economy…”
• Minimum-wage boost has mixed benefits, By Jonathan B. Cox, July 23, 2009, Charlotte News and Observer: “At Bojangles’ restaurants operated by the company’s largest franchise, a chicken biscuit costs a little more these days. So does the sweet tea. Those higher prices are because the people behind the counter are getting paid a little more…”
• Minimum wage hike could threaten low earners’ jobs, By Dionne Walker (AP), July 23, 2009, Seattle Times: “A federal minimum wage increase that takes effect Friday could prolong the recession, some economists say, by forcing small businesses to lay off the same workers that the pay hike passed in better times was meant to help.  The increase to $7.25 means 70 cents more an hour for the lowest-paid workers in the 30 states that have lower minimums or no minimum wage. It also means higher costs for employers who feel they’ve already trimmed all their operating fat…”

• To minimum-wage workers, this raise makes a difference, By Dana Hunsinger, July 23, 2009, Indianapolis Star: “Will Farrington folds clothes, helps customers find just the right jeans and toils daily in the world of retail. For his work at Aeropostale, he makes $7 an hour. But Friday, his pay will jump when the federal minimum wage rises to $7.25 an hour from $6.55. For Farrington, that means $2 more a day for eight hours of work. But he says it’s nothing to scoff at…”
• Minimum wage goes up tomorrow, but pay is heading down in South Florida, By Harriet Johnson Brackey, July 23, 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel: “Caroline Bartha’s last employer in Fort Lauderdale reduced staff, from about 80 a few years ago to eight. Next came the pay cut, followed by hours being pared back. Then workers were told they’d have to take two weeks off without pay. ‘Morale was dragging on the floor,’ she said. ‘Because of the pay cuts, I didn’t feel they were treating the employees the way they should.’ And in a final blow, Bartha’s company extended the unpaid leave to three weeks. A full paycheck is no longer a certainty for many South Florida workers…”

• Lowest-wage workers to get a pay hike, By Tony Pugh, July 19, 2009, Miami Herald: The final installment of a three-part increase in the federal minimum wage is proving to be the most controversial. Two previous wage hikes, one in 2007, the other in 2008, pushed the federal wage to $5.85 and then to the current $6.55 an hour. The third, which goes into effect Friday, will push it to $7.25 an hour…”
• Minimum wage rise: More money or fewer jobs?, By Marilyn Geewax, July 19, 2009, National Public Radio: “This Friday, the federal minimum wage will rise to $7.25 an hour, up from $6.55. Conservative economists are worried that the government-mandated raise will force small businesses to lay off workers. They note that the job market has deteriorated since Congress approved the 10.7 percent pay raise two years ago…”

• Minimum wage increase a mixed bag, By Tony Manthey, July 12, 2009, Arkansas Democrat Gazette: “Some companies will see their expenses rise and many workers will see bigger paychecks when the federal minimum wage increases 70 cents, to $7.25 from $6.55 an hour on July 24. The increase - about $112 a month for 40-hour work weeks - is coming during a long and deep national recession…”
• Winners and losers of the minimum wage hike, By Lisa Scherzer, July 10, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Millions of American workers are about to get a federally-mandated raise, but the recession has left many wondering if and how the economy will benefit. The raise, which will go into effect on July 24, represents the final wage hike in a three-step boost to the federal minimum wage increase passed by Congress two years ago. The minimum wage will rise 70 cents — or about 11% — to $7.25 per hour from $6.55…”
• Minimum wage goes up, By Erin Calandriello and Steven Ross Johnson, July 14, 2009, Elgin Courier News: “As the nation attempts to work its way out of the worst economic recession in decades, local employers say they are concerned over how a mandated increase in the state’s minimum wage will affect their own prospects for recovery.  The state’s minimum wage went up by 25 cents on July 1, to $8 an hour. It was the third of four such planned raises signed into law in 2006 by then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich that eventually will boost the pay rate to $8.25 by July 1, 2010…”

• Higher minimum wage coming soon, By Aaron Smith, July 7, 2009, CNNMoney.com: “The federal minimum wage is set to increase later this month as the job market shows signs of further decay.  The federal minimum wage will go to $7.25 an hour on July 24 from its current level of $6.55, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.  The impact will be felt in 29 states, and many of them plan to match the federal minimum when it goes through…”
• Minimum-wage increase comes at a bad time for weakened job market, By Kris Maher, July 6, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “The federal minimum wage goes up this month just as job losses are sending new alarms about the economy, giving traction to perennial fears that higher wages will hurt job creation.  In the past, minimum-wage increases have done little to dent job creation. And pouring more money into people’s pockets — especially low-wage workers who are likely to spend the increase to meet living costs — would normally boost the economy.  But these aren’t normal times…”

• Federal wage hike set for this month, By Ry Rivard, July 1, 2009, Charleston Daily Mail: “About 26,000 West Virginians will find a bit more comfort in their paychecks later this month when the federal minimum goes up by 70 cents an hour…”
• Minimum wage in Illinois raised to $8 an hour, July 1, 2009, Belleville News-Democrat: “Despite the current recession, a lot of workers in Illinois are getting a raise Wednesday.  The state’s minimum wage has increased by 25 cents an hour…”