With inflation continuing unbridled at record-setting levels, its impact on minimum wages across the nation is becoming clearer with each week. As we’ve advised in the past, and as recently as only two weeks ago, those states and local communities that tethered minimum wage increases to the Consumer Price Index. Unfortunately, there are more increases set for the next year, while still others have yet to set their 2023 rates. Most recently, the New York state Department of Labor set a $1 increase upstate to the current $14.20 per hour minimum effective January 1. New York City and neighboring areas are already at $15/hour. Likewise, the minimum wage in Ohio will jump $.80 from the current $9.30 minimum as of the first of the New Year, while the current $4.65 tipped wage will also increase by half that amount, to $5.05 per tipped hour. The Florida minimum wage increased this week to $11 per hour on the way to $15/hour by 2024, and the minimum wage in the Aloha State increased as well, going to $12/hour over the past weekend. Non-tipped employees in South Dakota are in for an 8.5% increase come January 1, boosting the minimum in the Mount Rushmore State to $10.80/hour, while in the Pacific Northwest, the minimum wage in the state of Washington will jump a full $1.25 on January 1, 2023 giving the Evergreen State the highest minimum in the country at $15.74 per hour in 2023. Perhaps more impactful, the exempt employee threshold in Washington is also tied to a multiple of the minimum wage. Consequently, the exempt salary threshold for small employers (1-50 employees) increases to $57,293.60 per year or $1101.80 per week. Employers with more than 50 employers will see the exempt threshold jump to 65,478.40 annually!