Virginia’s minimum wage increases to $12

BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) - Minimum wage rose to $12 an hour Jan. 1 in Virginia.

This increase moves minimum wage up from $11 and is part of the state’s plan to eventually raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Virginia Tech Associate Professor of Economics Jadrian Wooten says more work is needed to get $15 an hour approved.

“Now, you have to approve the new increases, as well, so that’s a big switch from the previous governor to the current governor,” Wooten said. “Under the previous one, these were automatic changes, and so that’s what we’ve seen each of the past couple of years, these automatic increases, but future ones, they will need to be voted on to actually increase.”

Wooten says many minimum wage employees will see increased pay or decreased work hours to keep pay around the same.

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