labor lawAdivision of labor law center

Remember one of the differences between the living wage and the minimum wage? I bring this up because, according to my sources, some of the consideration for if and when Nebraska gets this new state minimum wage is how the state compares with some of its neighbors. What is my point? Well, the living wage—such as the one recently passed in the state of Maryland for state funded contractor projects—is based directly on how much it would take to pay someone to get them above a certain wage income, usually the poverty line.

A minimum wage—such as the new minimum wage law proposed in the state of Nebraska—is instead based on what is currently being paid in the state or the federal level, or in this case, what sort of minimum wage your neighbor is paying. In the case of Nebraska, their neighbors are the likes of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, South Dakota and Iowa. Some of these states recently passed new minimum wage increases, or they did a year or two ago, or they are looking, as Nebraska is doing, of increasing the minimum wage now.

The state of Minnesota’s minimum wage, for instance, which we just recently reviewed, is one that was changed a couple years ago, and from I could gather, there is not much movement to change it. But at current state, it is more than the Nebraska minimum wage for many employers, at the rate of $6.15 per hour for large employers, $5.25 per hour for small employers.

Wisconsin is one state where they have a currently higher minimum wage than the federal minimum wage or Nebraska’s minimum wage, at the rate of $6.50 per hour. But talk on the town, so to speak, is that Wisconsin has possible changes in the works (more to come later when we get to the Ws).

Last 10 posts by Mark

• North Carolina Federal Minimum Wage Alert - June 11th, 2007
• New York Federal Minimum Wage Alert - June 11th, 2007
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• New Mexico Federal Minimum Wage Alert - June 10th, 2007
• New Jersey Federal Minimum Wage Alert - June 10th, 2007
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• New York Family Leave Law Leaving? - June 10th, 2007
• New Hampshire Federal Minimum Wage Alert - June 10th, 2007
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