Michigan minimum wage increases slightly, still below livable wage

Employees making minimum wage in Michigan will get a slight raise in 2022.

Michigan’s minimum wage rate will increase to $9.87 on January 1, 2022, an increase from the current $9.65. Michigan’s Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act of 2018 establishes the annual schedule and increases.

The Michigan Wage & Hour Division announced that while the law does prohibit scheduled increases when the state’s annual average unemployment rate for the preceding calendar year is above 8.5%, it is highly unlikely Michigan will exceed this threshold causing another delay as occurred in 2021.

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Effective January 1, 2022:

• Michigan’s minimum wage will increase to $9.87 an hour.
• The 85% rate for minors aged 16 and 17 increases to $8.39 an hour.
• Tipped employees rates of pay increases to $3.75 an hour.
• The training wage of $4.25 an hour for newly hired employees ages 16 to 19 for their first 90 days of employment remains unchanged.

The $9.87 wage remains below what is considered a livable wage in Michigan, according to MIT’s Living Wage calculator, which estimates an adult without children needs to make at least $13.63 per hour to support themselves. That numbers goes up to $31.15 for an adult with one child.

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