Arizona Minimum Wage to Increase in 2022

Arizona’s minimum wage is set to increase again for the fifth straight year in 2022.

Starting Jan. 1, employers across the state will have to pay workers at least $12.80 an hour, the Industrial Commission of Arizona announced Thursday. That is up 5.3% from the $12.15 minimum wage in 2021.

The increase comes off the back of a report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that shows that the Consumer Price Index rose 5.3% from August 2020 to August 2021.

In 2016, voters approved Proposition 206, which raised the minimum wage from $8.05 an hour to $10 and then increased it every year to $12 in 2020. Prop. 206 then required the minimum wage to be adjusted annually for inflation based off of August numbers.

Still, despite the latest increase, it won’t have a major impact on what most employers are paying right now.

The industries that usually pay employees the minimum wage – restaurants, hotels, retailers – are currently struggling to find enough people to work and have started paying well above $12.15 for entry level jobs.