state minimum wage increase

New Hampshire’s minimum wage jumped to $7.25 per hour on Sept. 1. Signed by Gov. John Lynch in May 2007, the new law increased the state’s minimum wage by more than $2.

“Our working families are struggling to cope with the rapidly increasing costs of their basic needs, especially gasoline, heating fuel and food,” Lynch said in a press release. “This increase in the state’s minimum wage will help provide some relief for New Hampshire’s hard working families and will help to make New Hampshire a place of opportunity for all of our citizens.”

Prior to the law’s passage, New Hampshire’s minimum wage was the lowest in the Northeast at $5.15 per hour and had not been increased for more than 10 years. The incremental increases began in September 2007, when the rate jumped to $6.50, and continued this month. At $7.25, the state minimum wage is now higher than the federal minimum of $6.55.

The federal minimum wage jumped to $5.85 in July 2007 and rose to $6.55 this summer. The national standard will increase to $7.25 on July 24, 2009.

Employers of workers who receive tips in restaurant or lodging occupations must pay at least 45 percent of the minimum wage, which is $3.27 per hour. Employees cannot be forced to participate in tip pooling or sharing.

The increase will directly affect the paychecks of 17,000 citizens, according to N.H. Labor Commissioner George Copadis.

N.H. high school students gets high test scores

New Hampshire high school students who graduated in 2008 scored above the national average on their SATs. According to the N.H. Department of Education, 74 percent of students in the state took the Scholastic Aptitude Test this year. The state’s mean scores were higher than the national average in all three sections of the test.

Each section of the SAT is scored on a scale from 200 to 800. In critical reading, the state average was 521, while the national average was 502. In math, the state average was 523 and the national average was 515. In writing, the state average was 511 and the national average was 494. The data is based on scores from public, private and parochial schools.

The DOE also reports that seniors who took the PSAT/NMSQT during their sophomore or junior years fared better on the SAT than students who did not take a preparation test. Students who took the PSAT/NMSQT scored an average of 52 points higher in critical reading and 63 points higher in both math and writing.

New Hampshire’s ACT scores are also above the national average. Scored on a scale from 1 to 36, the test measures high school students’ educational development and their preparedness for college-level work. It is divided into four sections for math, reading, science and English. The average score for high school graduates who took the test in New Hampshire was 23.1, compared to the national average of 21.1.

The ACT scores did show room for improvement in the state, however. Only 33 percent of students who took the test met or surpassed the College Readiness Benchmark scores on all four sections. The national average was just 22 percent. The worst subject for New Hampshire students was science and the best was English.