TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida hourly workers will see the minimum wage increase this week from the current $8.65 to a planned $10 per hour.
The increase, going into effect on Sept. 30, 2021, is the second change to the state’s minimum wage since Jan. 1. That’s when it increased to the current wage after the passage of Florida Amendment 2 in November 2020.
By 2026, Florida’s voter-approved wage hikes will settle at $15 per hour, increased incrementally from 2021 to 2026 in seven steps, each year on Sept. 30.
Florida’s minimum wage is already higher than the federal hourly rate, which has been $7.25 per hour since July 24, 2009 according to the Department of Labor.
The first minimum wage in the United States, at the federal level, was established by two laws, the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
The National Industrial Recovery Act let the federal government establish maximum labor hours and minimum rates of pay, as well as creating executive branch agencies to handle what the new law would need from the federal government, among other provisions.
The Fair Labor Standards Act set the first federal minimum wage at $0.25 per hour, set 40 hour work weeks and created time-and-a-half overtime pay for working beyond 40 hours, as well as making rules for interstate commerce employment and prohibited “oppressive child labor,” and more.
Florida’s latest wage increase is part of the changes made by Amendment 2 and, with the yearly increases, the state is staying on track to accomplish the $15 per hour goal of policymakers on multiple levels state and federal government before a national effort is completed.
