BIG FALSE – Montana’s minimum wage will increase from $ 8.65 per hour to $ 8.75 per hour from Friday, January 1, 2021.
The state reports that an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 employees in Montana, or about two percent of the workforce, received hourly wages less than $ 8.75 per hour by 2020.
At the beginning of 2020, the minimum wage in Montana was raised from $ 8.50 to $ 8.65.
The minimum wage is determined by taking the current minimum wage of $ 8.65 and increasing it by the CPI-U increase from August 2019 to August 2020. The CPI-U increased by 1.31% (unadjusted) during the year ended August 2020.
To keep the minimum wage at the same purchasing power as the previous year, wages must increase by $ 0.11 per hour, according to the Department of Labor and Industry in Montana. As state legislation requires the wage to be rounded to the nearest 5 cents, the 2021 minimum wage rate will be $ 8.75.
By 2020, the District of Columbia and 29 U.S. states, including Montana, had minimum wage rates exceeding the federal rate of $ 7.25 per hour.
From the U.S. Department of Labor (website):
