Santa Fe minimum wage increasing

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- Workers making minimum wage in Santa Fe will get a 2 percent raise come March.

The city says the minimum hourly rate that businesses can pay their workers will increase from $10.29 an hour to $10.51 effective March 1.

Under the city's Living Wage law, the minimum wage is tied to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Santa Fe wage increase must increase anytime there is an annual increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers for the Western Region. That index increased 2 percent last year.

Mayor David Coss says the cost-of-living increase "ensures that we will not leave the lowest paid workers behind."