Minimum wage in Kentucky

The minimum wage in Kentucky is $5.15 per hour with a seventh day premium pay overtime law which is separate from the federal minimum wage law. In the state of Kentucky its minimum wage law does not contain current dollar minimums instead the state has adopted the federal minimum wage rate by reference.

Kentucky adopted the $5.15 per hour minimum wage in July 1998. This year a bill was introduced through legislation in their House of Representatives to increase the minimum wage by 17% to $6.00 per hour effective January 2007 and to further increase the minimum wage to $6.50 per hour effective January 2008. The bill also stated that if the federal minimum wage rate is more than the proposed Kentucky minimum wage rate, Kentucky would increase their minimum hourly wage to the federal minimum wage rate.

However, no further action on this bill has been done. In addition, on January 26, 2006 Representative Kathy W. Stein introduced legislation to abolish the tip credit taken by employers and provide that tipped employees be paid the state minimum hourly wage. Once again no further action was taken on this bill.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau data, 89% of workers in Kentucky would benefit from this proposed minimum wage hike. These workers either live with their parents or another relative, live alone, or have a working spouse. Only 12% are sole earners with families and have access to supplemental income through the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Despite these statistics most entry level jobs in the state of Kentucky are paying more than the minimum wage. But for those jobs and workers who are stuck in the $5.15 per hour minimum wage rate, keeping up with the economy is very difficult. Currently Kentucky has adopted the federal minimum wage rate by reference but for Kentucky to wait for the federal minimum wage rate to increase may not be practical because the Senate is still debating this issue.