Nebraska joins Illinois, Ohio and Michigan with a separate minimum wage for youth workers

With the signing of LB 258 in February, Nebraska became the Midwest’s fourth state with a separate, and lower, hourly minimum wage for youth workers. The legislative change was made more than two years after voters approved a ballot measure that increased the minimum wage for all workers, to $15 an hour starting in January 2026.

Under the new law, the minimum wage for 14- and 15-year-olds is $13.50 an hour, the same amount as a new training wage (first 90 days of employment) for workers between the ages of 16 and 19. According to Unicameral Update, Nebraska’s training wage will increase by 1.5 percent every year; starting in 2030, the wage floor for 14- and 15-year-olds will increase 1.5 percent once every five years.

Proponents of LB 258 say a separate minimum wage for youth workers will improve their chances of employment (given their lack of a job history) while also helping businesses. The bill includes other changes to the voter-approved law. Instead of the minimum wage for adult workers changing every year based on inflationary changes, it will increase by a flat rate of 1.75 percent.

Illinois has a youth minimum wage of $13 per hour for all workers under age 18. However, if an individual works 650 hours or more in the calendar year, the regular minimum wage of $15 an hour applies. Ohio’s youth minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and is for workers under age 16. The state’s regular minimum wage is $11 an hour. In Michigan, 16- and 17-year-olds can be paid $11.67 per hour, compared to the regular hourly minimum wage of $13.73.

Training wages also often cover younger workers in their first 90 calendar days of work. Minus a separate state law, the federal training wage of $4.25 per hour applies to workers under age 20. Like Nebraska, some states set their own training wages for younger workers — for example, $9.31 per hour in Minnesota and $5.90 in Wisconsin.

The regular federal minimum wage was last raised in 2009; it is $7.25 per hour. Over the past decade, though, six Midwestern states have increased their regular minimum wage as the result of legislative action, voter-approved ballot measures, and/or automatic triggers in state laws that increase the wage with inflationary changes.

Those states are Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota, according to the Economic Policy Institute.