The Montana Department of Labor and Industry has completed its annual review of the cost of living and has determined that the minimum wage in Montana will increase to $7.65 effective January 1, 2012.
Montana workers earning the minimum wage will see an increase from $7.35 per hour to $7.65 per hour on January 1.
Initiative 151, enacted by Montana voters in 2006, proposed raising the state’s minimum wage to be the greater of either the current state or federal minimum wage. It also added an annual cost-of-living adjustment to the state minimum wage.
The increase in the minimum wage is based on any increase in the U.S. City Average Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for All Items (CPI) from August of the preceding year to August of the year in which the calculation is made. This amount is to be rounded to the nearest five cents. The 30-cent increase for 2012 is based on an increase in the CPI of 3.8 percent from August 2010 to August 2011.
Jason Ritchie is an editor of the Montana Employment Law Letter and is an associate at Holland and Hart LLP