By Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal, Dec 30, 2016

Colorado restaurants, which arguably are affected more than any other sector by the voter-mandated minimum-wage hike that takes effect Sunday, are getting creative with their purchasing, staffing and pricing decisions to keep their budgets balanced. ...

Supporters of the minimum-wage hike decry the talk of layoffs and cut hours as reactionary scare tactics and argue that the across-the-board nature of the minimum-wage hike will put all eateries on equal competitive ground.

“They can pass those costs on without losing an advantage,” said Edwin Zoe, CEO and founder of...

By Peter Strescino
The Pueblo Chieftain, December 30, 2016

A new law approved in November that increases the minimum wage each year until at least 2020 will go into effect on Sunday. State voters last favored a minimum-wage rise in 2006, when the rate went to $6.85 from $5.15. In 2020, the Colorado minimum wage will be $12 an hour. ...

Mike Hartkop, who owns and operates Solar Roast at Main and Third streets, says he already pays his workers a minimum of $10 an hour, and from that amount he said he has engendered a...

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 29, 2016

...19 states and a number of municipalities will raise their hourly minimum wages . At the present time, the federal, non-tipped minimum wage stands at $7.25 per hour.

Use this map to locate where minimum wage hikes will take effect in 2017.

Sources: Fisher Phillips law firm; Business for a Fair Minimum Wage; National Council of State Legislatures

Read More and Use Map

Related: Compare state-by-state minimum wage hikes

By John Madden
KREXTV News Channel 5, WesternSlopeNow.com, Dec 29, 2016

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.- January 1st brings in a new year and will also bring about new changes for businesses and employees in Colorado. Amendment 70 starts at the beginning of the year and will raise the minimum wage in Colorado from $8.31 an hour to $9.30 an hour.  It will also increase the minimum wage $0.90 cents each year until the wage reaches $12.00 an hour by the year 2020.

“Any time there is more money in the community that is a positive thing,”...

By Wayne Heilman and Peter Marcus
Colorado Springs Gazette, December 28, 2016

Anna Johnson, a University of Colorado at Colorado Springs student working two jobs to help cover tuition and rent, will get a raise Sunday for both jobs. A higher minimum wage for workers across the state takes effect, the result of a voter-approved initiative to increase the wage annually until it reaches $12 an hour in 2020.

Amendment 70, which passed in November with 55 percent support, will increase the minimum wage Sunday by 12 percent to $9.30 per hour, with annual increases of 90 cents...

By Karaline Ann
KJCT8 ABC, Dec 28, 2016

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KJCT) -- With the New Year fast approaching, Amendment 70, the minimum wage increase, will soon go into effect. ...

For Emma Braddy, Amendment 70 is more than just a pay raise. “Paycheck to paycheck, every time, and there's often times where I don't have enough money to go grocery shopping, so I go a week just eating ramen and things like that," said Emma Braddy, an employee at Five 60 Salon & Spa. “I would be able to pay for things that are not just...

Daily Advocate (OH), Dec. 27, 2016

DARKE COUNTY — Ohio workers currently earning minimum wage will see a small boost in their rate of pay come January 1, as the state’s minimum wage is raised from $8.10 to $8.15 per hour. ... Ohio’s wage increase comes due to a constitutional amendment passed in 2006 which raises the amount based on the inflation rate. ...

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, an advocacy group which seeks to see the minimum wage increased across the country, says business leaders believe increases will “boost consumer spending, lower employee...

By Diane Stafford
Kansas City Star, Dec 27, 2016

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since mid-2009, the last time that part of the Fair Labor Standards Act was amended. The national law has no provision for automatic increases because of time or inflation. ...

“It’s too often forgotten that employees are also consumers,” said Mike Draper, owner of Raygun LLC in Kansas City and a member of a national business leadership group that supports minimum wage increases.

By Lena Howland
KOAA5, Dec 27, 2016

COLORADO SPRINGS -

With the new year comes a new set of laws, after a busy legislative session and election season. More money will soon flow into the wallets for minimum wage workers.

"We actually pay our employees that minimum wage and more, so it's not an issue for us," Richard Skorman, co-owner of Poor Richard's in Colorado Springs said.

Voters decided to hike the minimum wage up by a dollar beginning January 1st and 90 cents every year after that until it gets to $12 in 2020...

Donna Goodison
Boston Herald, December 24, 2016

The last of three $1-per-year increases in the Massachusetts minimum hourly wage takes effect Jan. 1, and this year’s rate hike to $11 could cut into profitability for some small-business retailers, according to the state’s retail trade group. ... But Michael Kanter, co-founder of 42-year-old Cambridge Naturals health store, is among the small retailers who supports the minimum wage increases and a push to raise the rate to $15.

Raising the rate is good for business, according to Kanter, who increased his workers’ starting hourly wage to $15 this...

By Joey Bunch
Colorado Politics, Colorado Springs Gazette, Dec. 23, 2016

Voters in 19 states, including Colorado, put some New Year’s cheer in the pockets of minimum-wage earners..., with pay bumps taking effect either Dec. 31 or Jan. 1. Colorado voters, by a 55-45 margin, raised the wage from $8.31 to $9.30 on Jan. 1, with  automatic increases to $10.20 in 2018, $11.10 in 2019 and $12 an hour in 2020. ...

The Colorado chapter of an advocacy group called Business for a Fair Minimum Wage continues to rally supporters, saying it just makes good business sense, citing...

By Allissa Kline
Buffalo Business First, Dec. 23, 2016

Minimum wage rates across New York are set to increase next week as part of the state’s multi-year phased wage hike. Starting Dec. 31, the minimum wage rate in most of New York state shifts from $9 per hour to $9.70 per hour. That doesn’t include fast-food workers in Upstate New York, who will make at least $10.75 per hour, or tipped workers, whose hourly rate of $7.50 remains unchanged.

The increases were set in motion in April when Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation to enact a statewide...

By Mitchell Hartman
Marketplace, December 23, 2016

Congress hasn’t raised the federal minimum wage — now $7.25-an-hour — since 2009.  But many states and localities have, and there will be new minimum wage hikes in lots of places around the country starting on Jan. 1. ...

I asked Constance Palaia, who owns the Motel Del Rogue in rural Grants Pass, Oregon, how she deals with her four housekeeping employees: "We've always paid over the minimum wage... It pays off. All of these people have been here for over two years." ...

Listen

By Adrian D. Garcia
Denverite, December 22, 2016

Minimum-wage workers in Colorado will get a voter-approved raise in January, but where their additional cents will come from still remains to be seen.

By Lisa Jennings
Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 21, 2016

The future of the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour remains uncertain as restaurant operators prepare to ring in the new year. At the state level, wage hikes are expected in 19 states on Jan.1, 2017, as well as in a number of local jurisdictions. ...

In some jurisdictions, the wage increase doesn’t go into effect until later in the year. In Chicago, the minimum wage of $10.50 per hour will increase to $11 per hour on July 1, 2017, and in Los Angeles, the...