Here’s another state that is making history, ahead of schedule of the federal government, when it comes to the minimum wage. On January 25 of this past month, the Iowa government passed a law that increased the minimum wage. Currently, the state minimum wage is at $5.15 per hour, nut the governor of the state, Chet Culver, just signed into law a change to that.
The first increase to the Iowa minimum wage would occur on April 1 of this year, and would raise the minimum wage there to $6.20 per hour. The next increase to the Iowa minimum wage would come on January 1 of 2008, raising the minimum wage then to $7.25 per hour.
The increase is estimated to affect more than 260,000 workers in Iowa. No estimates could be found on how many employers exactly would be affected by the pay raise in the state, but that number of workers equals about 18 percent of the entire work force in Iowa. Unlike in other states, where there were some razor thin margins of victory for such minimum wage measures—or where Democrats were pitted man and woman for man and woman, in Iowa, there was a pretty big consensus in the Congress for the pay raise.
Last Tuesday, the Iowa House voted for it by 79 to 19 vote. The Senate voted for it on Wednesday by a 40 to 8 vote.
The new law also made special minimum wage provisions in Iowa for the so called training wage that you employers are allowed to pay new workers when they first start working for you. That new training wage will go from $4.25 per hour to a new training wage of $6.35 per hour, which will also start on January 1, 2008. You know what all this means, too, Iowa employers—time for some new minimum wage posters.
