Florida minimum wage increases to $14 an hour: FIU expert breaks down impact

Florida’s minimum wage will increase to $14 an hour on Sept. 30, as the state continues carrying out a constitutional amendment that eventually will lead to a $15 minimum wage.

Voters in 2020 approved the constitutional amendment, which was spearheaded by prominent Orlando lawyer John Morgan.

The minimum wage went to $10 an hour on Sept. 30, 2021 and has been increasing by $1 every Sept. 30 since.

“This is a very good time for those increases, because the time has also coincided with a period where inflation may have become some issue, and now these increases, in one way or another, have helped moderate the impact,” FIU’s Assistant Teaching Professor Dr. Robinson Reyes Peña told NBC6.

It is required to increase by this amount until it hits $15 an hour in 2026. After that, it will be adjusted annually based on inflation.

“Inflation is going to be measured using the CPI-W, which is an index that actually tracks the basket of needs for workers and clerical staff, so what is the basket of needs that the lay person usually needs? What are those expenditures? This is tackling that, making sure that their income is enough to tackle those basic needs,” Reyes Peña said.

Florida law says the minimum wage for tipped workers must increase accordingly. It was $9.98 last year and will also go up to $10.98 at the end of September.

But does that $1 actually make a difference?

“A dollar may seem a little, of course, if we think about a middle class family, the ordinary worker… if somebody’s working 40 hours a week, that’s $40 a week, $160 [a month],” Reyes Peña said.

But he says the larger impact is felt when comparing the new minimum to what it used to be in 2020. Additionally, Reyes Peña said there are some states that pay the federal minimum, which is $7.25 per hour. Florida’s higher figure by comparison, he says, helps residents offset the cost of essentials like housing.

But raising the minimum wage also means entrepreneurs and small business owners will have to pay their employees more.

“If you’re an entrepreneur, you have a small business, you are also struggling to keep up with inflation,” Reyes Peña said. “It is not always easy to pass price increases to the consumers, so many times you have to end up absorbing that… Now for them, the gradual way in which [the minimum wage has been raised]… gives them some time to sort of maneuver the situation.”

He also said that there is “some concern” that raising the minimum wage increases the barrier of entry for employees.

“You have to think twice before hiring somebody,” Reyes Peña said.