2009 Ohio Minimum Wage is $7.30

 According to the Ohio Department of Commerce, the state of Ohio increased its minimum wage as of January 1, 2009.

The Ohio minimum wage, which tracks the cost of living, went up by 30 cents an hour. The old rate was $7.00 per hour and the new rate is $7.30.

The increase in Ohio is not the largest increase in the minimum wage nationwide. In Washington, the increase was 48 cents an hour – to $8.55 hourly from $8.07. Oregon experienced a 45-cent hike, bringing its rate to $8.40 hourly. Connecticut’s rate also went up by 45 cents an hour. The new Connecticut minimum is now $8.00 an hour.

Altogether, 11 states increased their minimum wage rates as of January 1, 2009.

The largest actual minimum wage increase was in New Mexico. Under a new law passed by voters in 2006, the rate went up $1.00 an hour, from $6.50 to $7.50. New Mexico’s increase was not based on the cost of living, however.

In November of 2006, voters in Ohio approved a constitutional amendment mandating that the minimum wage track the inflation rate annual. The state uses the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for urban wage earners and clerical workers for a 12-month period that ends each August.

Because the CPI climbed 4.6% between September 1, 2007 and August 21, 2008, Ohio’s minimum wage also showed an atypically large jump, as did the wage rates in several other states as well.

This January 1 the minimum wage for Ohio workers receiving tips also went up. The new rate is $3.65 hourly, an increase of 15 cents. If a tipped employee in Ohio does not earn an average of $3.65 an hour in tips, then the management is required to make up the difference.

Ohio law has an exception whereby smaller companies may pay their workers less than larger companies do. If revenue is below $267,000 in 2009, the company is allowed to pay $6.55 an hour. However, that will only be the case until July 24, 2009, when the new federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour overrides lower rates.