Florida to increase minimum wage

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida's minimum wage is going up by 36 cents to $7.67 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2012. The state's new Department of Economic Opportunity quietly posted a notice of the increase on its website Saturday.

The increase will add $14.40 to the weekly pay of employees working 40 hours. The minimum wage goes up to match increases in the cost of living.

It took a lawsuit to force the last increase of 6 cents per hour. It went into effect June 1. A judge ruled the state erroneously decreased the minimum wage
in 2010.

Workers, though, didn't immediately feel the effects of that mistake. That's because the federal $7.25 minimum wage was higher than the state's rate would have been last year even without the error.