The Denver Post
December 31, 2009
DENVER—Colorado’s minimum wage will drop slightly in the new year—the first decrease in a minimum wage in any state since the federal minimum wage was adopted in 1938.
Colorado’s wage is dropping 3 cents an hour, from $7.28 to the federal minimum wage of $7.25. That’s because Colorado is one of 10 states that tie the state minimum wage to inflation. The indexing is thought to protect low-wage workers from having flat wages as the cost of living goes up.
But because Colorado’s provision allows wage declines, the minimum wage is going down because the state’s consumer price index fell 0.6 percent last year. The drop is attributed to lower fuel prices.
State labor officials say about 48,000 people earned the minimum wage in 2008.
