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Alaska Minimum Wage for 2015 is $8.75
Effective February 24, 2015 the Alaska minimum wage increases from $7.75 to $8.75 per hour. The next scheduled increase is on January 1, 2016 when the AK minimum wage rises to $9.75 per hour.
The increase passed as Ballot Measure 3 in November, 2014. Originally it was scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2015. However, under state law, the earliest date the measure could go into effect is 90 days after the election results were certified, or February 24, 2015. Proponents of the Alaska minimum wage increase had hoped to get it on an earlier ballot, in August 2014, but failed. The measure was one of three initiatives delayed from the August primary ballot to the November 2014 election.
The Alaska minimum wage increase is expected to affect 16,000+ workers with an estimated 10,000 additional workers indirectly affected. With Alaska, there are now more than 22 states with higher minimum wages than the federal rate, of $7.25 per hour. With Alaska’s high cost of living, many argue that the $7.25 per hour rate is simply not viable in the state.
In the lower 48, the highest minimum wage is in Washington state, where workers earn at least $9.47 per hour. Minimum wage workers in Washington D.C. currently earn $9.50 per hour and will see an increase to $10.50 per hour on July 1, 2015.
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