Arizona minimum wage rising by 65 cents to $12.80 in 2022

PHOENIX – The minimum wage in Arizona is going up by 65 cents to $12.80 per hour in 2022, officials announced last week.

However, one state business leader said there’s no reason to think the increase of more than 5% will compel companies rethink their hiring practices.

“To be honest, I don’t believe it’s going to have much impact at all, and here’s why: We’re in the hottest labor market potentially in Arizona history right now,” Danny Seiden, Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry president and CEO, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Tuesday.

Seiden said many businesses are already offering higher pay and still struggling to fill openings.

“What’s happening is the market is driving wages,” he said. “It’s capitalism at its finest. Supply and demand.

“People need workers, so they’re offering bonuses … they’re paying above minimum wage on average in most counties now.”

The new rate, which goes into effect Jan. 1, is based on the increase in the cost of living from August 2020 to August 2021 as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, according to the Arizona Industrial Commission.

Food servers and other workers who regularly receive tips can be paid $3 below the minimum wage in Arizona.

Next year’s hike is more than four times higher than the indexed increase for 2021, when the minimum wage rose by 15 cents to $12.15.

Arizona’s minimum wage was $8.05 an hour in 2016 when voters passed Proposition 206, which dictated set raises through 2020 and cost-of-living adjustments afterward.

Under the terms of the initiative, the rate jumped to $10 in 2017, $10.50 in 2018, $11 in 2019 and $12 in 2020.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jeremy Foster contributed to this report.

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