FARGO — Minimum wage is on the rise throughout the upper Midwest, just not in North Dakota.
According to a recent Axios report , 26 states will increase their minimum wage in 2022. Those states cut across the political spectrum, including typical Democratic strongholds such as California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York as well as conservative-minded states like Florida and Missouri. The picture is similar locally, where progressive-leaning Minnesota is joined by Republican counterparts Montana and South Dakota in raising their minimum wage.
Meanwhile, minimum wage in North Dakota remains constant at the federal rate of $7.25 per hour, as it has since 2010 .
Over the last 12 years, minimum wage in North Dakota has been falling behind its neighboring states . Minnesota, Montana and South Dakota all make annual adjustments to their minimum wage according to inflation. Montana jumped ahead of North Dakota’s $7.25 per hour mark in 2011, while Minnesota and South Dakota followed in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
Labor leaders fear it's a troubling trend for the state and a sign that lawmakers are leaving the lowest earners behind. Business advocates argue that the free market has done just fine in regulating wages in the state.
In 2021, the North Dakota Legislature widely favored the business side of the issue when the House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted against a plan to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2027 . With the Legislature currently in an off...
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says his unfounded claim that Coun. Sean Orr distributed illegal drugs didn't damage his reputation, because Orr's own previous statements showed he "supported drug use." S...