When Washington residents voted in 1998 to raise the stateâs minimum wage and link it to the cost of living, opponents warned the measure would be a job-killer. The prediction hasnât been borne out. In the 15 years that followed, the stateâs minimum wage climbed to $9.32âthe highest in the country. Meanwhile job growth continued at an average 0.8 percent annual pace, 0.3 percentage point above the national rate. Payrolls at Washingtonâs restaurants and bars, portrayed as particularly vulnerable to higher wage costs, expanded by 21 percent. Poverty has trailed the U.S. level for at least seven years.
We can and should have a debate about phasing it in, and how quickly, but we don't need to debate whether raising the minimum wage is a job killer. It isn't.