2019 Minnesota minimum-wage report released

The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry has released its 2019 Minnesota minimum wage report.

Key findings

In Minnesota, the minimum wage that applies in any situation is the highest of the federal, state and local levels at the time.

• The state large-employer minimum wage is currently $9.86 an hour and is adjusted annually for inflation. The minimum wages for employers of different sizes in Minneapolis and St. Paul will reach $15 in various years from 2022 to 2027 and will be adjusted for inflation thereafter. After an initial transition period, employers of all sizes in the two cities will have the same minimum wage.

• Adjusted for inflation, the 2019 Minnesota large-employer minimum wage of $9.86 an hour is above the federal and state levels from 1980 through 2015, but somewhat below the federal levels of the 1960s and 1970s. When the Minneapolis and St. Paul minimum wages have reached $15, they will be higher, adjusting for inflation, than the $12 peak reached by the federal minimum in 1968.

• At the Minnesota large-employer minimum wage, full-time annual earnings are about equal to the poverty threshold for a household of three. At the Minneapolis and St. Paul minimum wages for 2028 (when all employers will be paying an inflation-adjusted $15 minimum in those cities), full-time annual earnings will fall about midway between the poverty thresholds for households of four and five.

• For 2019, the number of Minnesota jobs paying at or below the minimum wage is estimated at between 244,000 and 260,000, or between 8.3% and 8.8% of all jobs. For Minneapolis in 2024, when all of its employers will be paying a projected $15.35 minimum wage, an estimated 17.7% of jobs will pay that rate or less. For St. Paul in 2028, when all of its employers will be paying a projected $16.33 minimum wage, an estimated 21.2% of jobs will pay that rate or less.