Alaska's minimum wage is set to increase again on Jan. 1, from $8.75 to $9.75 per hour.
It's the second $1 increase in two years in Alaska, the result of a ballot measure in November 2014 to boost minimum wage. Nearly 70 percent of Alaskans supported that measure.
The increase will affect about 12,000 people in the state -- that's roughly how many workers are earning between $8.75 and $9.75 per hour, according to Dan Robinson, director of research and analysis at the Alaska Department of Labor. Many of those work in the restaurant, seafood processing and retail trade industries, Robinson said.
Curtis Thayer, president and CEO of the Alaska Chamber, said while his organization opposed the ballot measure, he hasn't heard concerns from businesses about the increase in 2016. The chamber represents business interests in the state.
"It's been pretty quiet," he said. "Everybody's focus is less so on minimum wage, more so on working out the financial realities the state is facing."
Some workers in the state are still exempt from the requirement to get paid at least minimum wage. Those include agricultural workers, domestic service workers, people under the age of 18 working part-time, and more.
Minimum wage will be adjusted for inflation each year after 2016.