Florida Minimum Wage Will Increase January 1
Monday, December 30, 2013
By: Carmel Delshad

December 30th, 2013 | WMFE - Thirteen states will increase their minimum wage rates next year, and Florida is one of them.

Florida’s minimum wage workers will see a 14-cent increase in their hourly rates on January 1. The jump to $7.93 an hour is thanks to a 2004 cost of living increase amendment to the state’s Constitution.

Paul Sonn of the National Employment Law Project says the increase is a welcome one, but it’s not nearly enough for people who are supporting families on such low wages.

“People have had to wrap their heads around the fact that these are jobs for adults now, and it’s really causing communities and states and leaders across the country to struggle with what we can do to make them better jobs," says Sonn.

There’s a push for a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour by 2015 brewing in the White House.

Sean Snaith of UCF’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness says increasing the minimum wage dramatically isn’t quite so simple.

“If it were that easy, if we could just legislate everybody’s standard of living, then we would do that,” says Snaith.

Wages for tipped workers will also increase by 14 cents-an-hour  to $4.91.