$4.50/Hour Sought For Minimum Wage

$4.80/hour sought

for minimum wage

OLYMPIA

Gov. Booth Gardner yesterday asked the Legislature to boost Washington's minimum wage to $4.80 an hour next Jan. 1.

The governor based his request on a recommendation from his Office of Financial Management.

Initiative 518, approved by voters two years ago, raised the state's $2.30 minimum hourly wage to $3.85 on Jan. 1, 1989, and to the current $4.25 one year later. The initiative directed the governor's budget office to review the wage every two years and suggest appropriate changes.

The agency based its recommendation for a 55-cent increase on the Seattle-Tacoma consumer-price index. That index rose 7 percent last year and is projected to climb 5.8 percent this year.