The minimum wage in Montana will increase by 15 cents per hour starting next year, according to the state labor department’s most recent cost-of -living analysis.
Minimum wage workers will see their hourly pay bump from $8.15 an hour to $8.30 an hour beginning January 1st. State law requires an annual adjustment to the minimum wage to keep up with inflation.
Just under a percent of Montana’s workforce earns minimum wage, which is a slight tick down from the number in the Department of Labor and Industry’s report last year. Montana Department of Labor attributes the decrease in minimum wage workers to a low unemployment rate, due to an aging workforce and not enough young workers in the state.