Washington employers get ready to give your minimum-wage employees a raise:  effective January 1, 2009, Washington’s minimum wage will increase to $8.55 per hour, allowing Washington to maintain the highest minimum wage in the country.  For more information, click here to read the Department of Labor and Industries’ Press Release.  Washington’s current minimum wage is $8.07 per hour.

As previously reported in the Stoel Rives World of Employment, Oregon’s minimum wage will increase to $8.40 also effective January 1, 2009.  Following voter initiatives, both Oregon and Washington now tie their minimum wages increases to the Consumer Price Index

The federal minimum wage is now $6.55 per hour, but will go up to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.  For information on minimum wages in other states, check out this interactive map of the United States showing minimum wage rates, available from the U.S. Department of Labor