By Sarah Ash

By now, you’ve probably already heard about another bump up in Colorado’s minimum wage from the passage of Amendment 70 in November of 2016.  It benefits both normal and tipped employees. We broke it down so you can know what to expect when your looking for your next job if it offers minimum wage- and how it affects what jobs in Colorado will pay for work in the future.

The basics

• Minimum wage will increase every year by 90 cents. (The annual increase started in January 2017)
• It will reach $12 per hour in January 2020. After that, it will be adjusted annually based on cost of living increases.
• The Department of Labor will us a Consumer Price Index for Colorado to determine what that cost of living is.
• Tipped employees (waiters, bartenders etc.) benefit too!

Where did it come from?

• It was initiated back in 2006, but we passed it as Amendment 70 in November 2016.

What does it mean for your paycheck right now?

• If you work on minimum wage without tips: from $10.20/ hr to $11.10/hr
• If you work for tips: from $7.18/hr to $8.08/hr

What does it mean for your paycheck in the future?

• Some companies are starting to evaluate their overall payroll in new ways- specifically their payment tiers.
• The wage increase means that there are new questions companies might ask themselves about how much new employees today are paid vs. how much longer standing employees were paid when they started. How will that affect what they offer when it comes to things like annual raises?
• Not all companies are adjusting this way-some are simply offering what is required by the new law.

Did you know that Employment Solutions consistently has positions that are above the minimum wage? An interview with one of our staffing specialists is a great place to start. Fill out our contact form here to make an appointment.