My Take: 12 years without a minimum wage raise Holly Sklar EDITOR'S NOTE: The Michigan minimum wage effective Jan. 1, 2021, is $9.65. The rate did not increase this year because unemployment for 2020 exceeded 8.5%. Michigan’s minimum wage rate will next increase to $9.87 in the first calendar year following a calendar year for which the annual unemployment rate is less than 8.5%. We’ve hit a terrible milestone for the federal minimum wage — 12 years without a raise. The last increase was to $7.25 an hour on July 24, 2009. That’s so long ago, the top movies that year were "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," "Up," "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," and "Avatar."