Surprise! You’re Not Getting A Raise On January 1st

If you were thinking you were getting some more money on January 1st, nope, it's not happening, and it's another casualty of the pandemic.

Though some people probably may be getting raises, the state of Michigan says for the people who were hoping the minimum wage was going up on January 1st, well, that's not happening. Today, the Michigan Bureau of Employment Relations, Wage and Hour Division said the state’s scheduled minimum wage increase is not expected to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021 because "Michigan’s Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act of 2018 prohibits scheduled minimum wage increases when the state’s annual unemployment rate for the preceding calendar year is above 8.5%."

Here's what the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity says to expect and why:

If, as expected, the annual unemployment rate does not fall below 8.5%, then effective Jan. 1, 2021:

• Michigan’s minimum wage will remain at $9.65 an hour.
• The 85% rate for minors age 16 and 17 remains $8.20 an hour.
• Tipped employees rates of pay remains $3.67 an hour.
• The training wage of $4.25 an hour for newly hired employees age 16 and 17 for their first 90 days of employment remains unchanged.

The Michigan October unemployment rate kept going down after skyrocketing at the beginning of the pandemic and the subsequent shutdown; it is doing better, is on a downward trend and is 5.5%, but the annual average from January through October is 10.2% and December's numbers most likely won't be good enough to dip the average below that 8.5% threshold when the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases those final 2020 unemployment numbers for Michigan.

In case you're wondering, the LEO says Michigan’s minimum wage rate will increase to $9.87 in the first calendar year where the unemployment rate is below 8.5%.