The importance of the correlation between the minimum wage and the living wage is obvious to everyone. It’s impossible to have an efficient and robust workforce if the employees cannot earn enough to survive. Today we are looking at the Granite State and the New Hampshire minimum wage. What’s the rate per hour? Are there perspectives for its increase?
Why does the minimum wage law exist?
The most critical reason is to protect employees from being exploited by employers. Without government regulation, the desire to save can prevail and wages will stagnate.
The rise in the unemployment rate, it will mean impossibility for the workers to execute their bargaining power.
Taking into account the inflation factor, this results in the minimum wages being lower than the living standard.
And the next question is: what are the benefits of minimum wage increases?
The most significant advantages are:
- A minimum wage increase stimulates the economy. Consumer spending growы. People have more money to invest in the country’s economy.
- The bottom lines of the businesses benefit.
- The workers’ productivity rises.
- Employee absenteeism decreases, as well as the overall staff turnover.
The minimum wage is established on two levels: the federal level and the state level.
The US Congress determined the federal minimum wage in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in June 2009. It’s $ 7.25 per hour.
As you can see, it hasn’t changed for over a decade.
Each state determines its minimum wage. According to the FLSA, private employers must pay their employees not less than the federal minimum wage. This applies to most hourly employees.
We are going to look at the state of New Hampshire and its situation with the minimum wage.
New Hampshire minimum wage
The minimum wage in New Hampshire is $ 7.25. It hasn’t changed since 2008. As you can see, The New Hampshire minimum wage is identical to the federal minimum wage. The initiatives to raise the minimum wage haven’t been successful so far.
Who does it apply?
The New Hampshire minimum wage applies to the vast majority of employees.
Among the minimum wage workers are janitors, maids and housekeeping, child care workers, nursing assistants and orderlies, sales representatives, and others.
The exempt occupations are certain tipped employees, student workers, and part-time workers.
New Hampshire minimum wage for tipped employees
New Hampshire laws on the minimum wage for tipped employees enable business owners to pay workers not less than 45% of the minimum wage if the employees work at a restaurant, food delivery, hotel, motel, or some other places and regularly receive tips for the amount over $ 30.00 per month.
In 2021, the New Hampshire state passed a bill where the tipped minimum wage was established the amount of $ 3.27 per hour.
Employers must ensure that workers are paid the standard minimum wage as a whole after tips are added to the employee’s wages.
Pooling and sharing tips
According to the New Hampshire minimum wage laws, employers cannot require their employees to be involved in tip pooling or sharing. But a tipped employee may voluntarily take part in pooling and sharing tips.
New Hampshire minimum wage for working overtime
In New Hampshire, if an employee’s working week exceeds 40 hours, they are guaranteed 1.5 rates for the overtime hours. The limited exceptions include seasonal employees occupied less than 6 months a year (for example, summer camp staff, non-professional ski patrol, etc.).
Subminimum wage rate
According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, certain types of individuals are allowed to be paid special minimum wage rates at a lower level.
Workers with disabilities
New Hampshire minimum wage laws prohibit employers from paying employees with disabilities a wage rate lower than the standard minimum wage.
Student learners
According to the New Hampshire minimum wage laws, employers can pay student workers a wage rate that is lower than the standard minimum wage, but only if approved by the New Hampshire Department of Labor.
Trainees
New Hampshire’s minimum wage law allows employers to pay employees at least 75% of the standard minimum wage if the said employees have less than six months of experience in the intended profession.
The employer, in such a case, must apply to the New Hampshire Department of Labor (no later than 10 days after the hire) and get their approval. Then the trainees can be paid an applicable minimum wage.
Forecast for 2023
According to the Economic Policy Institute, 27 states, and Washington, D.C. are raising their minimum wage next year. Among them are the following states: California, Colorado, Nevada, New York, Maine, Florida, New Jersey, Illinois, and others.
New Hampshire is not one of them. Although several state senators have been trying to pass legislation to increase New Hampshire’s minimum wage, they’ve been unsuccessful so far.
The situation doesn’t look promising for New Hampshire in 2023 either.
As of now, a full-time minimum wage worker in New Hampshire earns $ 58.00 per day. An average working week contains 40 hours, so their weekly wage is $ 289.00. There are 52 weeks in a year, which will amount to a total of $ 15,080.00 per year.
The national poverty line for a family of two people is $16,020.00 per year.
Frequently asked questions
What is NH minimum wage 2022?
The New Hampshire state minimum wage rate is $ 7.25 per hour. It is aligned withthe current federal one. After the minimum wage increases at the federal level, the New Hampshire state minimum wage will be adjusted accordingly.
The tipped minimum wage in New Hampshire has been set in the amount of $ 3.27 per hour since 2021.
What state has $15-an-hour minimum wage?
3 states have $ 15.00 minimum wage as of January 01, 2023: Washington ($ 15.74), Massachusetts ($ 15.00), and California ($ 15.00).
In 2023, more than half of the US states are increasing their minimum wage, including Alaska, New Mexico, Illinois, and others.
Is New Hampshire going to raise minimum wage?
The state legislator in New Hampshire is not likely to raise the minimum wage. But when the minimum wage is raised by federal law, the New Hampshire state minimum wage will align.
Conclusion
New Hampshire’s minimum wage has been aligned with the federal minimum wage. When the federal law raising the minimum wage is passed through Congress, the New Hampshire minimum wage will be automatically replaced.
Before that, it is unlikely that the state legislator will initiate the New Hampshire minimum wage hike.
As for the federal minimum wage increase, after the 2020 presidential elections, such an initiative was presented to the US Congress. It was offered as one of the provisions of President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 stimulus bill. But the effort failed in the 50/50 Senate when eight Democratic senators joined the Republicans and voted it down.
The minimum wage issue can be viewed as controversial because there is an opinion that raising the minimum wage can harm businesses. However, with the current inflation levels, a stagnant minimum wage can lead to the impoverishment of working and middle-class people. And that will be harmful to the economy.
Our previous post 2023 Minimum Wage - Raising news We recommend that you also read our article titled.
