LANSING – Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed into law this week a bill to raise the state's minimum wage.

Senate Bill 934 increases the minimum wage from $7.40 an hour to $9.25 over the next four years and would be adjusted to the rate of inflation or 3.5%, whichever is lower, starting in 2019. Tipped employees would have a rate that is 38% of the minimum, or about $3.51 an hour.

The Associated Press notes that Michigan is the first state with a Republican-led legislature to raise its minimum wage this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Other states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, West Virginia and the District of Columbia have also raised their minimum wage rates, and a wage-rate increase is waiting to be signed into law in Vermont.