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Arizona minimum wage set to increase on January 1

Hourly pay rate will go from $12.15 to $12.80 for minimum wage employees

By: Greg Bradbury

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and last updated

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Arizona minimum wage will increase from $12.15 to $12.80 an hour starting on January 1.

However, in the city of Tucson, the minimum wage will jump up to $13 an hour in April of next year. The city's minimum wage will ultimately hit $15 an hour on January 1 of 2025.

Here is a breakdown of the increase:

$13 by April 1, 2022
$13.50 by January 1, 2023
$14.25 by January 1, 2024
$15.00 by January 1, 2025

"Overall, it will have a positive impact on us," Kellen Fortier, a co-owner of Wooden Tooth Records, said. "I think a $15 minimum wage will benefit pretty much everyone in our community."

Fortier said had been paying his employees minimum wage prior to the pandemic.

"It's really what we could afford," Fortier said.

Now his employees make $15 an hour. Fortier said this helps with retaining them.

"We don't want turnover here and we don't really have any," Fortier said. "It's nice to know that we are paying them a livable wage."

The increase in pay is worrying Carlos Ruiz, the owner of HT Metals. His employees make above minimum wage.

"Everybody kind of compares themselves to minimum wage," Ruiz said. "As that minimum wage rises, then people with skills start to see that they're not as far away from minimum wage as they had been in the past, so they start asking and requiring higher wages to be retained."

Ruiz said that labor costs will impact the price of his goods.

"That is one of the components that I factor in as I start to price my goods," Ruiz said.

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