(The Center Square) — Alaskans who earn minimum wage will see a little more money on their paychecks beginning next week.
A ballot initiative approved by voters in 2014 requires an annual minimum wage adjustment for inflation. The minimum wage will increase to $11.73 from $10.85.
The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development calculates the adjustment on September 30 of each year for the previous calendar year using 100% of the rate of inflation figures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Administrative and professional salaried employees who are exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements “must maintain a salary that is equivalent to two times the minimum wage for the first 40 hours worked,” a release from the DOLWD said.
“The minimum salary for these workers will increase from $868.00/week or $45,136 per year in 2023, to $938.40 per week or $48,796.80 per year,” the department said.
A 2023 report by Alaska Economic Trends magazine tracked inflation and adjusted wage increases in Alaska from 2012 and noted the 8.1% increase in 2022
“Wage growth would have to accelerate rapidly to keep pace with inflation that high,” the report said.
Their wage growth study demonstrated that from 2012 to 2021 in Alaska’s three largest employment sectors, there were considerable increases with rate acceleration beginning in 2019. Most of Alaska’s industries outpaced inflation with three exceptions: construction, the professional, scientific, and technical services sector, and agriculture.
The health care and private social assistance sector, Alaska’s largest sector, had an annual wage increase growth of 20.5% with adjustments for inflation, while prices rose 15.2%.
Retail and wholesale trade realized 20.7% and 18.8% wage growth, respectively. The trade sector’s average wage increase was 8.4% when adjusted for price level changes. Accommodation and food services, the third largest sector in the state, had its highest increase in 2021. The research period from 2012 to 2021 shows a 35.2% wage growth in this sector, with a third of that increase in 2021.
