Effective Thursday, Jan. 1, employees who receive minimum wage in Arizona will get a pay raise to $8.05 an hour. That’s up from $7.90 an hour during 2014. 

The pay increase comes as a result of a voter approved ballot measure. It was passed in 2006 and it gave the Industrial Commission of Arizona the authority to raise the minimum wage to help workers cope with increases in the cost of living.

Arizona is among 21 states where the minimum wage is going up in 2015. 

Arizona’s minimum wage is higher than the national minimum pay scale of $7.25 an hour.