Slight increase in Alaska’s minimum wage coming ahead of larger, voter-approved increase

Alaska’s minimum wage workers will get a tiny bump in pay starting on Jan. 1 before a larger increase becomes effective six months later.

The state’s minimum wage will increase by 18 cents to $11.91 an hour at the start of the new year, the result of a ballot measure passed 10 years ago, the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development said on Wednesday.

The bigger increase will be on July 1, when the minimum wage is set to rise to $13 an hour, the result of a ballot measure approved by voters this year. The minimum wage is set to increase again in 2026 to $14 an hour, to $15 an hour in 2027 and in subsequent years, increase to adjust for inflation.

The 2014 ballot initiative also included an inflation adjuster. The upcoming 18-cent-an-hour increase was calculated according to that adjuster, the department said. The calculation used the consumer price index for the Anchorage metropolitan area, which increased by 1.5% in 2023, the department said.

Alaska’s minimum wage also applies, indirectly, to salaried employees, under state law. The relevant statute requires salaried employees to be paid at least twice the amount that minimum-wage workers would earn for a full workweek. Starting Jan. 1, that minimum pay for salaried workers will rise from $938.40 to $952.80 for a 40-hour workweek, the department said.

This year’s Ballot Measure 1, in addition to increasing the minimum wage, mandates a system of paid sick leave, with leave days to be accrued over time by workers, and bars employers from requiring employees to attend political or religious meetings unrelated to their job duties.

Supporters of this year’s ballot measure said the wage increases and other benefits were overdue in Alaska and would benefit the economy.

Even at the $13-an-hour rate to start on July 1, Alaska will continue to have the lowest minimum wage of all U.S. West Coast states, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Opponents, including trade groups representing restaurant and bar owners, tourism companies and oilfield-service companies, campaigned against the ballot measure, arguing that it would harm businesses.