A young adult lady in Johnson County, Kentucky was recently faithfully working her convenient store register job. She had a line of patrons buying drinks and paying for gasoline. Someone asked her how much money she made? “Nine dollars an hour,” she said. “I’ve worked here over two years and the pay has been $9 an hour. I’ve asked for a raise. I work hard. I’m here almost all the time. A manager from the chain of stores always says, “We are looking into it.” She said, “I have to find another job because I can’t take care of myself and my children on $9 an hour.” 

A patron in line who was only buying a cup of coffee with a $20 bill took the cash she had just handed him in change and said to her, “Please take this and buy some lunch today.” The lady said, “Uh, no, I don’t want that,” but the man insisted, and she accepted it with tears coming from her eyes. “Thank you, thank you so much she said to the man. I’ve never had anybody to do anything like this for me in my life.”

It was good to see a random act of kindness, but the episode was a real case scenario of how hard life is for many Americans just like this lady, working for low hourly wages. 

On January 5th, the US Department of Labor released its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS), revealing that the number of resignations reached 4.5 million in November. The number increased by 370,000, matching September’s quit rate record high of 3% — indicating that the Great Resignation isn’t showing signs of stopping.  

Will the Johnson County lady quit her job? She will if she can find a better-paying one. Unfortunately, in this area of the country that’s not easy to do. She may have to move in order to make more money. Many employers across the country have had to raise what they are offering in order to find and keep good employees. Thus, many of the Americans who did quit their jobs in November did so because of the lure of better pay in other places.

In Kentucky, the federal minimum wage is $7.25. It’s the same wage for many other states but some are doing much better.  However, you can’t go by the state minimum. You have to find the right employer who is paying what will make you happy and determine what it will require of you to be an employee. 

If you are looking at state guidelines in hopes of better pay, simply go this site PeopleRead.com and Good Luck!  

Here is the complete breakdown from this website. 

Alabama No state minimum wage law. *

Alaska: $10.34

Arizona: $12.80 ($12.15 in 2021)

Arkansas: $11.00 (applicable to employers of 4 or more employees)

California: $14.00 (applicable to employers with 25 employees or less); $15.00 (applicable to employers with 26 employees or more) ($13.00; $14.00 in 2021)

Colorado: $12.32

Connecticut: $13.00

Delaware: $9.25

Florida: $10.00

Georgia: $5.15 (applicable to employers of 6 or more employees)

Hawaii: $10.10

Idaho: $7.25

Illinois: $11.00

Indiana: $7.25 (applicable to employers of 2 or more employees)

Iowa: $7.25

Kansas: $7.25

Kentucky: $7.25

Louisiana: No state minimum wage law. *

Massachusetts: $14.25 ($13.50 in 2021)

Maine: $12.75 ($12.15 in 2021)

Maryland: $12.50 ($11.75 in 2021)

Michigan: $9.87 ($9.65 in 2021) (applicable to employers of 2 or more employees)

Minnesota: Large employer (enterprise with annual revenues of $500,000 or more): $10.33 ($10.08 in 2021)  Small employer (enterprise with annual revenues of less than $500,000): $8.42 ($8.21 in 2021)

Missouri: $11.15 ($10.30 in 2021)

Mississippi: No state minimum wage law. *

Montana: $9.20 ($8.75 in 2021) (business with gross annual sales of more than $110,000); $4.00 (business not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act with gross annual sales of $110,000 or less)

North Carolina: $7.25

North Dakota: $7.25

Nebraska: $9.00 (applicable to employers of 4 or more employees)

New Hampshire: $7.25

New Jersey: $13.00 ($12.00 in 2021)

New Mexico: $10.50

Nevada: $10.50 with no health ins. benefits provided by employer ($9.75 in 2021); $8.75 with health ins. benefits provided by employer and received by employee)

New York: $12.50; $14.00 (Long Island & Westchester); $15.00 (NYC)

Ohio: $9.30 (employers with annual gross receipts of $305,000 or more; $7.25 (employers with annual gross receipts under $305,000) ($8.80; $7.25 in 2021)

Oklahoma: $7.25 (employers of ten or more full-time employees at any one location and employers with annual gross sales over $100,000 irrespective of number of full-time employees); $2.00 (all other employers)

Oregon: $12.75

Pennsylvania: $7.25

Rhode Island: $11.50

South Carolina: No state minimum wage law. *

South Dakota: $9.45

Tennessee: No state minimum wage law. *

Texas: $7.25

Utah: $7.25

Virginia: $11.00 ($9.50 in 2021) (applicable to employers of 4 or more employees)

Vermont: $12.55 ($11.75 in 2021)

Washington: $14.49

Wisconsin: $7.25

West Virginia: $8.75

Wyoming: $5.15

District of Columbia: $15.20

Puerto Rico: $8.50 ($7.25 in 2021)

*This state does have not established state-level minimum wage policies, effectively defaulting to the national federal minimum of $7.25.