State's minimum wage set to increase Jan. 1

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri's minimum wage is set to increase again as part of a voter-approved plan to gradually hike pay.

The minimum wage rate will hit $9.45 an hour beginning Jan. 1, up from the current $8.60 an hour mandated by the state.

Voters in 2018 approved a plan to raise wages for some of the state's lowest-paid workers. The plan requires wages to go up by 85 cents an hour every year until the minimum wage rate hits $12 an hour in 2023.

New minimum wage requirements took effect in 20 states and nearly two dozen cities at the start of 2019, affecting millions of workers. The state wage hikes range from an extra nickel per hour in Alaska to a $1-an-hour bump in Maine, Massachusetts and for California employers with more than 25 workers.