By Christopher S. Rugaber
Associated Press (AP), Jan 6, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' paychecks rose in December at the fastest pace in more than seven years as steady hiring and low unemployment led some businesses to pay more to attract and keep workers. Employers added 156,000 jobs, a decent total that shows that moderate hiring remains sustainable 7½ years after the recovery from the Great Recession began. ...

The figures also reflect the job market's vast improvement from the deep layoffs and surging unemployment rate that prevailed when Obama took office in January 2009...

By Hadas Kuznits
CBS Philly, January 6, 2017

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — With little hope of the state government raising the minimum wage, one local business owner has taken matters into his own hands.

Ken Weinstein is owner of Trolley Car Diner and Trolley Car Cafe. This week, he independently launched the Wage Change Campaign, which asks business owners to voluntarily raise the minimum wage to eight dollars this year, and an additional dollar each year until it reaches eleven dollars in the year 2020.

“I started this campaign asking four other restaurant owners who own a total of ten restaurants to join me...

By J. Adrian Stanley
Colorado Springs Independent, Jan 4, 2016

The best present for many Colorado workers didn't show up under the Christmas tree — instead it will appear on their first paycheck of 2017. ...

Richard Skorman, owner of the Poor Richard's complex of restaurants and stores in north downtown, says he already pays his workers more than minimum wage, and he thinks most small business owners do the same. It's chains, he says, that usually pay minimum wage, and forcing them to pay workers more is likely to make small businesses like his more...

Politico, Jan 4, 2017
By Carla Marinucci and David Siders

... “Fast Food CEO didn’t believe it, but now he’s seen it - higher minimum wage boosts business,” via KQED’s The California Report: Bill Phelps “is now convinced minimum wage increases aren’t bad for the fast food business; in fact, he says, they’re great. Phelps said you can see why if you visit the Wetzel’s Pretzels franchise in Concord’s Sunvalley Shopping Center.” http://bit.ly/2j6BOy6 ...

Read more

By Sam Harnett
KQED (NPR), Jan 3, 2017

When California began raising its minimum wage two years ago, Bill Phelps wasn’t happy. Phelps is CEO of a fast food company called Wetzel’s Pretzels, which has almost 100 outlets in California. ... But something else happened entirely. Sales at his California stores immediately shot up.

“I was shocked,” Phelps says. “I was stunned by the business.”

The same exact pattern took place again in 2016, when the minimum wage rose again, Phelps said. There was a wage increase, and then boom, a bump in same-store sales across the...

By Michael Kanter
U.S. Department of Labor Blog, Jan. 3, 2017

Editor's note: The following guest post is by Michael Kanter, the co-founder and chief visionary officer of Cambridge Naturals,a community natural health and wellness store in Massachusetts.

As of Dec. 19, 2016, we at Cambridge Naturals raised our starting hourly wage from $13 to $15.

This is a decision that has been several years in the making. I have been actively involved in the federal and state campaigns to raise the minimum wage. As a  member of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage...

Register Herald (OH), Jan 3, 2017

Some say amount remains too low

PREBLE COUNTY — Ohio workers currently earning minimum wage will see a small boost in their rate of pay come January 1, as the state’s minimum wage is raised from $8.10 to $8.15 per hour. ...

Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, an advocacy group which seeks to see the minimum wage increased across the country, says business leaders believe increases will “boost consumer spending, lower employee turnover, and increase productivity and customer satisfaction – helping businesses thrive and strengthening local economies.”

By Jonathan Wasserstrum
Forbes, January 3, 2017

... For this installment we have Michael Lastoria, CEO of social eatery concept &pizza. For more information on &pizza and Michael's vision, you should read this story as a compliment to what you are about to read.

1. When did you first know you were going to be an entrepreneur?

I don’t think it’s something that occurs to you in a specific moment, like some kind of midday revelation: ‘I’m going to be an entrepreneur.’ I realized early on in my working life - 6 weeks in - that I...

By Bud Foster
Tucson News Now, KOLD TV, Jan 2, 2017

The minimum wage in Arizona is now $10 an hour, up from $8.05. 19 states raised their minimum wage on Sunday, Jan. 1 but Arizona voters approved the biggest raise by a 58 percent to 42 percent margin. Arizona's minimum wage will increase to $12 by 2020. ...

Catalina In-home Services, which was founded in 1982, says the wage increase is a benefit to its workers and the company. It has 65 to 70 certified nurse's assistants who provide in home care, "but we...

By Shira Schoenberg
MassLive.com, Springfield Republican, January 1, 2017

Beginning today, minimum-wage workers in Massachusetts will enjoy a boost in their pay. The state minimum wage increases from $10 to $11 an hour on New Year's Day, the last of three increases required by a 2014 law. ...

Dean Cycon, founder and CEO of Dean's Beans Organic Coffee Co. in Orange and an advocate for raising the minimum wage, pays his 13 employees at least $13 an hour and covers all their health care costs.

"I believe working people need to share in the benefits of the...

By Ed Sealover
Denver Business Journal, Dec 30, 2016

Colorado restaurants, which arguably are affected more than any other sector by the voter-mandated minimum-wage hike that takes effect Sunday, are getting creative with their purchasing, staffing and pricing decisions to keep their budgets balanced. ...

Supporters of the minimum-wage hike decry the talk of layoffs and cut hours as reactionary scare tactics and argue that the across-the-board nature of the minimum-wage hike will put all eateries on equal competitive ground.

“They can pass those costs on without losing an advantage,” said Edwin Zoe, CEO and founder of...

By Peter Strescino
The Pueblo Chieftain, December 30, 2016

A new law approved in November that increases the minimum wage each year until at least 2020 will go into effect on Sunday. State voters last favored a minimum-wage rise in 2006, when the rate went to $6.85 from $5.15. In 2020, the Colorado minimum wage will be $12 an hour. ...

Mike Hartkop, who owns and operates Solar Roast at Main and Third streets, says he already pays his workers a minimum of $10 an hour, and from that amount he said he has engendered a...

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 29, 2016

...19 states and a number of municipalities will raise their hourly minimum wages . At the present time, the federal, non-tipped minimum wage stands at $7.25 per hour.

Use this map to locate where minimum wage hikes will take effect in 2017.

Sources: Fisher Phillips law firm; Business for a Fair Minimum Wage; National Council of State Legislatures

Read More and Use Map

Related: Compare state-by-state minimum wage hikes

By John Madden
KREXTV News Channel 5, WesternSlopeNow.com, Dec 29, 2016

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.- January 1st brings in a new year and will also bring about new changes for businesses and employees in Colorado. Amendment 70 starts at the beginning of the year and will raise the minimum wage in Colorado from $8.31 an hour to $9.30 an hour.  It will also increase the minimum wage $0.90 cents each year until the wage reaches $12.00 an hour by the year 2020.

“Any time there is more money in the community that is a positive thing,”...

By Wayne Heilman and Peter Marcus
Colorado Springs Gazette, December 28, 2016

Anna Johnson, a University of Colorado at Colorado Springs student working two jobs to help cover tuition and rent, will get a raise Sunday for both jobs. A higher minimum wage for workers across the state takes effect, the result of a voter-approved initiative to increase the wage annually until it reaches $12 an hour in 2020.

Amendment 70, which passed in November with 55 percent support, will increase the minimum wage Sunday by 12 percent to $9.30 per hour, with annual increases of 90 cents...