DEPARTMENT OF LABOR & WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha
• Position: Inside Alaska Business February 2018

The Alaska minimum wage increased from $9.80 to $9.84 this year. A ballot initiative passed by voters raised the minimum wage by a dollar in both 2015 and 2016, and thereafter to be adjusted annually for inflation.

Alaska Statute 23.10.065(a) requires the Alaska minimum wage to be adjusted using the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers in the Anchorage metropolitan area (Anchorage CPI-U) for the preceding calendar year. The Anchorage CPI-U increased 0.4 percent in 2016, rising from 216.909 to 217.830. As a result, the minimum wage rose from $9.80 to $9.84 effective January 1, 2018.

"These modest annual adjustments ensure low wage workers don't have to wait for several years to see their wages raised to keep up with...