Starting today, the D.C. minimum wage jumps to $10.50

D.C.’s minimum-wage workers will get a city-mandated increase in their paychecks beginning Wednesday, when their hourly wage bumps from $9.50 to $10.50.

The hike is part of legislation signed into law in January 2014 that brought the District’s minimum wage from $8.25 to an eventual $11.50 per hour in 2016. The first increase went into effect July 1, 2014, bringing the floor for hourly wages from $8.25 to $9.50. On July 1, 2016 it will jump to $11.50 and, after that, the city’s minimum wage will be tied to inflation.

The D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute estimates that more than 64,000 people who work in the District make less than $11.50 per hour and are directly impacted by the legislation. This will put the city’s minimum wage among the highest in the country.

There is also a push to launch a ballot initiative to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15.

As of January 2015, the living wage for D.C. contractors is $13.80 per hour.