(The Center Square) – A voter-approved Missouri minimum wage law means the state’s hourly rate is $12.30, an increase of 30 cents, starting on Monday.
More than 62% of voters approved Proposition B in 2018 to gradually increase the state’s minimum wage from $7.85 an hour to $12 by 2023. The law requires the minimum wage to increase or decrease each year depending on changes in the cost of living found in the Consumer Price Index for urban wage earners and clerical workers. The rate is taken from a July-to-July comparison and rounded to the nearest five cents. The July 2023 rate was 2.6% or 31 cents per hour.
Missouri law doesn’t allow the state’s minimum wage to be lower than the federal minimum wage rate, which is set by the U.S. Department of Labor at $7.25 an hour for 2023.
All private businesses in the state are required to pay the new hourly rate of $12.30 with an exception for retail and service businesses with gross annual sales less than $500,000. The state’s minimum wage law doesn’t apply to public employers.
Compensation for tipped employees must also total at least $12.30 per hour, according to information from the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
“Employers are required to pay tipped employees at least 50 percent of the minimum wage, plus any amount necessary to bring the employee’s total compensation to a minimum of $12.30 per hour,” the department stated in a media release.
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