When the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, Ohio’s lowest paid workers will have a special reason to celebrate.
In 2020, Ohio’s minimum wage increases by 15 cents to $8.70 an hour. Tipped employees will get 5 cents more per hour.
A 2006 constitutional amendment approved by Ohio voters increases the state’s minimum wage on January 1 by the rate of inflation.
Some larger Ohio companies already pay a higher minimum wage. This year, Columbus raised its minimum wage for city employees to $15 an hour, as did The Ohio State University.
Not everyone is subject to the wage increases. Smaller companies with annual gross receipts of $319,000 or less are allowed to pay a lower minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. That's also the minimum allowed for 14 and 15-year-olds. It would require an act of Congress and the president's signature to change those minimum wages.
For Ohioans getting this wage increase, it could mean an extra $1.20 for an 8-hour day. That’s roughly enough for one bus pass or about half of one gallon of gas.
