Federal Minimum wage Increase Benefits Michigan Workers under 18

Due to financial crisis, many people are down in spirits during the work. But it is different in Michigan. When the federal minimum wage increased to $7.25 an hour last Friday, it also boosted Michigan's sub-minimum wage, which is currently $6.55 an hour.

The 17-year-old Attica Township teen from Michigan has been working this summer for a Lapeer-based landscaping service mowing grass. "It may not seem like much, but it's better than a sharp poke in the eye," Harlow told The County Press. "I'm just a kid still living at home, so I don't know how the government thinks people can live in this wage."

The federal minimum wage increase in last week is the final of a three-step increase which began in 2007. The workers under 18 years of age comply with Michigan's sub-minimum wage which equals 85 percent of the state's adult minimum wage. But the minimum wage cannot be lower than the federal minimum wage. According to federal estimates, about 2,000 Michigan workers, on average, had wages at the federal minimum wage level in 2008.

Although the federal minimum wage will increase, Michigan's minimum wage will still be higher at $7.40 an hour. The current state’s minimum wage is 25 cents higher than last year.

"You keep increasing the minimum wage, and it's just going to be exacerbating the problem," said David Hamel, professor of business management for Wayne State University. "Whenever you have more money coming in on wages, you're going to have folks who take advantage of it."

More information about the Wage & Hour Division as well as the state's minimum wage and overtime law is available at Michigan official website.