Signed into law July 10, Missouri State Bill 567 has made many adjustments to employee minimum wage laws. According to the Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations, with this bill in motion, Missouri minimum wage is set to increase to $15.00 an hour effective Jan. 1, 2026. As of Aug. 28, minimum wage in Missouri is $13.75 an hour, which was previously set at $12.30 an hour in 2024.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Multiple factors such as economic inflation have contributed to the need for minimum wage increase. In a public statement about the bill, one of its sponsors, Republican Senator Josh Hawley elaborated on the wage problem the bill was designed to address.
“For decades, working Americans have seen their wages flatline. One major culprit of this is the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep up with the economic reality facing hardworking Americans every day,” Hawley said.
Many high school students, including Summit students, who pursue a part-time job are paid minimum wage for their labor. One of these students, junior Anna Bish, started working at Urban Air Adventure Club in April and says that this increase in pay has been able to cover more of her needs as a high school student and could incentivize more students to work minimum wage.
“I can pay for more things like gas [as well as] more things that I need. I feel like, because [minimum wage] is increasing, it [helps] get more people jobs, because more people will want to be employed,” Bish said.
As minimum wage increases, businesses that pay at this level have had to make many adjustments to maintain consistent profit margins. One of these businesses, Fritz’s Frozen Custard, has seen over 30 years of minimum wage fluctuation. When its West County location first opened on April 4, 1994, minimum wage was $4.25. Current owner of the location, Gene Anselmo, who has been working there for 22 years, says this increase is nothing new. However, it’s still a change that they have to address because labor costs are a big expense in running a business.
“We’re not making more money because we raised the menu prices. It’s strictly to cover the increase in cost. [We] definitely want to try to maintain [our] level of profit, that’s the whole point of [running] a business. So [increase in minimum wage] is definitely a learning curve, for sure, [but] I’ve been doing this for so long that I’ve learned a lot of this just as the years go on. There’s hardly a year where we don’t have to adjust our menu prices,” Anselmo said.
The original purpose of minimum wage requirements was to create a minimum standard of living, requiring employees to be paid an income that could sustain their basic needs. As the years have progressed and the price of living has changed, many arguments have arisen about whether minimum wage continues to support the standard of living for employees. Anselmo says minimum wage may be suitable for teenagers, but can’t provide for the needs of someone who is fully independent.
“I don’t think anybody is not deserving of making $15.00 an hour; the part that’s hard for me is when they say that this minimum wage is supposed to be a wage to support somebody living on their own, which I don’t think is enough for that. How can you say that same [minimum wage] is what somebody should make at their first job as a young high school student? How can those be one in the same?” Anselmo said.
