Hawaiçi employers and employees won’t be affected by an increase in the federal minimum wage Friday to $7.25 an hour.

That’s because the state law already requires employers here to pay that amount. Hawaiçi is one of 19 states and the District of Columbia where the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour or more, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
The institute said the new federal minimum is still less than the minimum wage through most of the period from 1961 to 1981 when adjusted for inflation.