Minimum Wage

The legislature has enacted a compromise bill that will increase the minimum wage over a two-year time frame. The current minimum wage is $6.75 and the new law will increase it to $7.50 an hour on January 1, 2007 and then to $8.00 an hour on January 1, 2008. The Conference Committee Report, which eventually became law, dropped the concept of automatically linking future increases to the consumer price index, a process commonly referred to as “indexing”. The law also does not include a change to the tip credit, which is currently $2.63. The governor’s attempt to amend the bill by reducing the increase to $7.00 an hour was vetoed by both chambers. The $8.00 rate will be the highest state minimum wage law in the nation along with California; however, San Francisco currently has an indexed rate of $8.50 per hour. The current federal minimum wage is $5.15.

Neighboring states' '08 minimum wages:
Connecticut: $7.65
Vermont: $7.57* (indexed to inflation)
Rhode Island: $7.40
Maine: $7.00
New Hampshire: $5.15

Click here to read Chamber testimony submitted on June 6, 2005 by the Chair of the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee, Paul Gauvin, president of Henri Enterprises