Inflationary adjustment will keep its value from eroding, as voters intended

TUMWATER, Wash. (Oct. 2, 2023) — The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) announced Friday that the state’s minimum wage will be increase 3.4 percent to $16.28 an hour in 2024. This inflationary adjustment will help Washington’s working families earning the state’s lowest legal wage to keep up with rising costs.

Voters overwhelmingly approved labor-backed ballot initiatives in 1998 and again in 2016 that required annual adjustments in the state minimum wage based on rising consumer prices. Washington was the first state to index its minimum wage for inflation. Now there are 16 states with indexed minimum wages.

“Washington’s union movement was proud to sponsor the minimum wage initiatives,” said April Sims, President of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. “Voters clearly agreed that our state should take the politics out of the minimum wage and adjust it every year so its value isn’t eroded by inflation. With the price of food, housing, transportation and other basic necessities on the rise, the state’s minimum wage must also rise.”

Under state law, L&I calculates the minimum wage for the coming year based on the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). In making the calculation, L&I compares the CPI-W index from August of the previous year to August of the current year.

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