The Alaska minimum wage will remain unchanged at $10.34 in 2022, the Department of Labor and Workforce Development announced Tuesday.
Alaska law requires the state minimum wage to be adjusted using the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers in the Anchorage metropolitan area for the preceding calendar year, according to the labor department. In 2014, voters passed a ballot initiative to adjust the minimum wage annually for inflation.
The urban Alaska consumer price index the state uses fell 1.1 percent in 2020, according to the labor department. Because the statutory language states that the minimum wage will be “adjusted annually for inflation” and there was no inflation in 2020, the minimum wage will remain at $10.34 in the calendar year 2022. By law, Alaska’s minimum wage must remain at least $1 per hour over the federal minimum wage, the release said.
The Alaska minimum wage applies to all hours worked in a pay period, regardless of how the employee is paid — whether by time, commission or otherwise, according to the labor department. According to the release, all actual hours worked in a pay period multiplied by the Alaska minimum wage is the very least an employee can be compensated by an employer unless the employer can clearly show that a specific exemption exists.
• Contact reporter Peter Segall at psegall@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SegallJnuEmpire.
