Lack of minimum-wage increase in 2016 surprises some experts in Florida.

Orlando’s large hospitality industry certainly took note recently when Florida said it would not be raising the statutory minimum wage — $8.05 per hour — for the coming year.

Each year, the state determines what the minimum will be, for the coming year, by Oct. 15.

The decision was not made by Gov. Rick Scott, but by a formula that ties minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index.

Given the fact that unemployment rates are falling, some people expected the minimum in Florida to go up again this year. Last year it ticked upward by 12 cents.

“I was personally surprised, because we are seeing economic-improvement trends,” said Rachel D. Gebaide, chair of employment law for Orlando-based law firm Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed. “It is a formula, so it’s an objective decision based on economic indicators.”

Gebaide advises clients in the restaurant industry, which has large numbers of employees who make minimum wage or tipped wage. The law firm sends out advisories about the minimumwage decisions each year.

The Consumer Price Index is a government tool to measure inflation, generally reflecting prices for certain household goods.

During the Great Recession, which began in 2008, the minimum wage remained flat in Florida because state law prohibits it

“It is a formula, so it’s an objective decision based on economic indicators.”

Attorney Rachel D. Gebaide

from going down.

Wages have been a growing topic in the news, including a recent movement to set the minimum wage at $15 per hour. That has been adopted in a few West Coast cities, but so far the Fight for $15 hasn’t caught on dramatically in Florida. The Florida wage is slightly higher than the national minimum of $7.25 per hour.

Also last week, New York restaurant company Union Square Hospitality Group made headlines when it said it would end tipping at its locations.

Gebaide said tipped wages are the most complicated to track, because employers have to determine whether their employees are making a minimum standard for tips. The tipped wage minimum in Florida is $5.03 per hour.

Technically, the Florida minimum wage only goes up if a specific indicator went up during the past 12 months: the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, not seasonally adjusted, for the South Region of the U.S.