State announces minimum wage rate increases for 2024

State officials have announced how much the minimum wage rate will increase starting in the new year.

According to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (MDLI), large employers will have a minimum wage of $10.85 an hour for 2024, an increase of 26 cents from the current wage. Meanwhile, there will be a 22-cent increase for small employers, youth and training wages and summer work travel exchange visitor program wage, bringing it to $8.85.

Large employers are defined by the state as having an annual gross revenue of at least $500,000, while small employers are those having revenues less than that same amount.

The training wage rate must be given to those who are younger than 20-years-old for the first 90 consecutive days of employment, while the youth rate must be given to those who aren’t yet 18 years old.

As previously reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS, the state’s minimum wage rate increased by 26-cents for large employers in 2023 as well, increasing it from the 2022 rate of $10.33. Small businesses had a rate of $8.42 per hour in 2022 and saw an increase of 21-cents for 2023.

However, it’s important to note that these rates don’t apply to the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul due to them having higher minimum wages.

Starting July 1, 2023, small employers in Minneapolis began paying minimum wage workers at least $14.50 per hour, up from the 2022 amount of $13.50 and $12.50 in 2021. Meanwhile, large businesses were paying their employees at least $15.19 per hour as of Jan. 1, 2023, up from $15.00 on July 1, 2022, and $14.25 on July 1, 2021.

As of this publishing, Minneapolis hasn’t announced its new rate for the coming year, however, city officials previously said the rate increase for small and large businesses will be the same starting Jan. 1, 2024. Small businesses in the city are defined as having 100 or fewer employees, with large businesses having at least 101 employees. Minneapolis leaders add tips and gratuities don’t count toward the minimum wage payment.

In St. Paul, businesses are divided into macro, large, small and micro categories based on the number of employees there are, and there is also a youth training wage.

Macro businesses – those who have more than 10,000 employees, as well as those who work for the City of St. Paul – saw their pay rate increase by 19 cents on Jan. 1, 2023, to $15.19. Large businesses with anywhere from 101 to 10,000 employees saw their wage increase on July 1, 2023, from $13.50 to $15.00 an hour, while small businesses saw an increase on that same day by exactly one dollar, to $13 per hour.

Micro businesses – those who have no more than five employees – saw an increase on July 1, 2023, from $10.75 per hour to $11.50. Starting July 1, 2024, micro businesses in St. Paul will have a minimum hourly pay of $12.25 and small businesses will pay $14 an hour, up 75 cents and one dollar from the year before, respectively.

Large and macro businesses will have a rate based on a percentage calculated by the MDLI Commissioner and other variables, which can be found by CLICKING HERE. In 2024, the youth wage per hour is listed by the city as $11.90 starting July 1.