State’s minimum wage workers will get a pay raise in 2018

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, December 26, 2017

By Kate Martin / The News Tribune

TACOMA — With the new year, a new hourly wage will be coming for Washington state’s minimum wage earners.

Starting Jan. 1, the minimum wage statewide will go to $11.50 an hour from $11 an hour. The increase is the result of a statewide ballot issue voters approved in 2016.

For full-time minimum wage workers, that means roughly another $1,000 in their pockets by the end of the year.

Voters in several cities also approved minimum wage hikes. All will be higher than the state minimum.

Here are the changes to the local minimum wage rate:

SeaTac: This year’s minimum wage of $15.34 an hour will rise 30 cents, to $15.64 an hour.

Tacoma: The current $11.15-an-hour rate will go to $12 an hour. The increase will apply to anyone working within the city limits, regardless of where the company is located.

Seattle: The minimum wage is complicated in the Emerald City.

Employers with 501 or more workers this year paid $13.50 an hour with medical benefits or $15 an hour without. Those employers will pay $15 an hour with benefits or $15.45 an hour without in 2018.

Seattle businesses with fewer workers now pay $11 an hour with benefits or $13 an hour without. Starting in January, workers will earn $11.50 an hour with medical benefits or $14 an hour without.