The raise, from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour, is the second of three annual increases required by a 2007 law.

The bad news is that higher gas and food prices will swallow up the extra cash. Energy costs have soared nearly 25 percent recently and the price of food is up more than 5 percent.

Next year the federal minimum wage goes to $7.25 an hour.

Most companies are already paying more than the minimum wage in order to attract a bigger pool of job prospects.

From The Associated Press