Washington’s minimum wage will adjust to $8.55 per hour on January 1, 2009. A full-time employee earning the minimum wage in Washington will earn $17,784 per year – $1,000 more than in 2008 and $4,160 more than the federal minimum of $6.55 in 27 other states.

$8.55 per hour in 2009 represents the same buying power minimum wage workers had in 2000 when Washington’s minimum wage was $6.50. In comparable dollars, today’s minimum wage is actually lower than it was 40 years ago. In 1968, Washington’s minimum wage was $1.60 per hour; if it had kept pace with inflation, it would be $10.55 in 2009.

Initiative 688, approved by voters in 1998, raised the minimum wage in steps to $6.50 in 2000, then required an annual increase based on the cost of living index for urban wage and clerical workers (CPI-W). The 48 cent adjustment for 2009 reflects the relatively high rate of inflation (5.9%) between August 2007 and August 2008.

In the Seattle metropolitan area the CPI-W was higher than the nation, at 6.2%. Basic necessities of the family budget, including food, rent, and transportation, also rose more than the overall inflation rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics August report.

See county-by-county fact sheets:

Select a countyAdams CountyAsotin CountyBenton CountyChelan CountyClallam CountyClark CountyColumbia CountyCowlitz CountyDouglas CountyFerry CountyFranklin CountyGarfield CountyGrant CountyGrays Harbor CountyIsland CountyJefferson CountyKing CountyKitsap CountyKittitas CountyKlickitat CountyLewis CountyLincoln CountyMason CountyOkanogan CountyPacific CountyPend Oreille CountyPierce CountySan Juan CountySkagit CountySkamania CountySnohomish CountySpokane CountyStevens CountyThurston CountyWahkiakum CountyWalla Walla CountyWhatcom CountyWhitman CountyYakima County