Alaska Minimum Wage Will Increase to $10.34 in 2021

The Alaska minimum wage will increase from $10.19 to $10.34 effective January 1, 2021. Voters passed a ballot initiative in 2014 to adjust the minimum wage annually for inflation.

Alaska Statute 23.10.065(a) requires the Alaska minimum wage to be adjusted using the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers in the Anchorage metropolitan area (Anchorage CPI-U) for the preceding calendar year. The Anchorage CPI-U increased 1.4 percent in 2019. As a result, the minimum wage will rise from $10.19 to $10.34. By law, Alaska’s minimum wage must remain at least $1 per hour over the federal minimum wage.

The Alaska minimum wage applies to all hours worked in a pay period, regardless of how the employee is paid—whether by time, piece, commission or otherwise. 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.

Tips do not count toward the minimum wage. Further, under Alaska law, public school bus driver wages must be no less than twice the current Alaska minimum wage. Also, certain exempt employees must be paid on a salary basis of not less than twice the current Alaska minimum wage based on a 40-hour work week in order to maintain their exempt status.

More information about Alaska’s wage laws can be found at: http://labor.alaska.gov/lss/whhome.htm