MITECHNEWS.COM reports that Michigan's minimum wage workers would see their pay jump from the current $5.15 an hour to $6.95 an hour beginning in October under legislation the Senate unanimously and surprisingly approved on Thursday. The House is expected to pass the bill next week, which would mark the first increase in Michigan's minimum wage in nine years. Under SB 318, passed 35-0, the minimum wage would also jump to $7.15 an hour on July 1, 2007 and to $7.40 an hour on July 1, 2008. The initial increase alone would boost a minimum wage worker's annual pay - at 40 hours a week for 52 weeks a year - by more than 34 percent, from $10,710 a year to $14,456.

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