Back in the 1990s, the living wage movement formed around the belief that those who work should not be poor. Behind this rather pious belief lay the grim fact that the national minimum wage, in many places, did not (and still doesn’t) keep pace with the cost of living. To address this issue, activists fought for city-wide laws which typically required companies contracting with the city to provide a wage in-line with the living costs for that region. The laws usually targeted service contracts. The first ordinance was successfully passed in Baltimore in 1994 and similar laws were instituted in dozens of other major (and minor) cities since.
Seattle has never passed such an ordinance. To my knowledge there hasn’t even been a major push for one from unions, low-income advocacy groups, or the religious community, the three groups that have supported similar campaigns in other cities.
I’m not exactly sure why the living wage movement never made an impact in a city as progressive as Seattle. One theory I’ve heard is that Washington’s minimum wage is already more than a dollar higher than the national rate (and higher than any other state’s rate to boot). I imagine that would have a dampening affect on any living wage campaign and provide the opposition with a nice set of talking points.
I doubt that even Washington’s minimum wage necessarily equals a living wage—which would cover basic housing, health care, transportation, food, taxes, with a bit extra for emergencies—particularly in King County, where the cost of living is higher than almost anywhere else in the state. And there is a precedent: Portland, Oregon has a living wage ordinance, which has been renewed multiple times, despite the fact that their state has the second highest minimum wage in the country.
Just a thought. Now, gentle Slog readers, why do you think Seattle has never had much of a living wage movement?
Because, except for Muede, folks in Seattle are economically literate and understand that minimum-wage rules can have unintended consequences that harm marginal workers who will lose their jobs or otherwise not be hired if wages are artificially raised above the market rate?
My guess would be there hasn’t been any movement on a City Minimum Wage because the State of Washington currently has the highest state MW in the nation.
Obviously the “living wage” thing sounds like a good idea, but in practical terms it probably would have a dampening effect on employment overall and drive employers out of the city limits instead of draw them in or retain them.
Also, business B&O taxes are paid on gross receipts, not on net profits (even if the company is in the red), and that basically negates any productivity gains you might otherwise expect to come with more and better workers competing for fewer but better-paid jobs.
Because Seattle isn’t so much ‘progressive’ as Full of Shit.
Jake;
When will employees at The Stranger get a Union?
4
But some Ex-Lax should help Seattle have that ‘movement’ you so crave, jake…
I agree with #3. It’s a big undertaking to move your entire operation out of state, but relatively easy to move it out of a given city.
We don’t have a living wage law, but there is a prevailing wage that requires public contractors to pay workers in various trades at a minimum set rate based on the wages in the largest city in each county. And we do have the highest minimum wage in the country.
Despite this, it’s just about impossible to survive on minimum wage in King County.
Compare the median income for Metro Seattle, which hovers around $80,000/year, to the $16,786 you’d earn working full-time for minimum wage. To afford a even low cost apartment in the Rainier Valley, a worker earning minimum wage to put in 96 hours (out of an average 160 hours/month) just to pay rent. Figure in food and transportation — you’re pretty well screwed.
Good god, what short memories you people have. It was thanks to Seattle voters and a huge movement of people there in the late 90s that a statewide initiative was passed, pegging the minimum wage to the federal COLA rate. And for what it’s worth, many economists argue that COLA is artificially inflated.
I personally made a lot of phone calls and went through several pairs of shoes to get that initiative passed. Now, more than a decade later, I feel so proud when I talk to agricultural workers who’ve moved to our state to pick asparagus, grapes, spuds, apples, cherries or what-have-you, and are able to feed their children on their salaries.
9
well there!
problem solved….
Comment #1 and #3 should check out some of the actual empirical research on the issue. There is enough of it out there by now looking at the impacts of minimum wage and living wage legislation. Researchers don’t find evidence of the dire outcomes neoclassical theory might predict. No mass unemployment, no inflation….the reality is that the total amount of money that goes towards the raises is actually quite small relative to other expenses and larger macroeconomic trends.
See David Card and Alan Krueger, Robert Pollin, Michael Reich, David Fairris, and many others. Check out books such as Myth and Measurement, or A Measure of Fairness.
I think it’s largely because wages for entry-level positions for English speakers have been above minimum wage for a long time in Seattle. The only people screwed by the minimum wage laws for most of the past few decades were immigrants (especially illegals) with little political power.
Admittedly, I haven’t been looking for unskilled work for like 10 years now, but entry-level wages in the late ’90s / early ’00s were liveable, at least for a childless person.
because we are not a bunch of mindless commie scum!
My knowledge of the difference between “affect” and “effect” allows me to earn more than the minimum wage.
Why?
Because, as with rent control, the rest of the busybodies in the state would override it if we tried to pass it.
Which is why we should be the State of Seattle, with two US Senators and two US Congressmen.
@9, that is a fine thing to have on your résumé-of-the-heart.
Works wonderfully in a magical land where no one is paid under the table.
Why doesn’t Seattle have a living wage ordinance? Because if someone proposed it, the Stranger staff would unleash bitchy slog postings about them, the Democrat-Nazis would be outraged, and the Cap Hill hipsters wouldn’t know the difference.
Because most people working for minimum wage in Seattle are either teenagers, meth addicts, or hard-working immigrants who are aren’t the whiny complainy type.
To answer the question:
Because emulating Baltimore is never a good idea.
The idea that minimum wage jobs will go somewhere else is mostly fantasy. Who works for minimum wage in Seattle? Mostly jobs that can’t be moved somewhere else. Gas stations, restaurants, small retail, all dependent on location.
Sounds to me like one of those feel-good things that Seattle is known for. Great symbolism but little substance. Or put another way, we can’t legislate people out of poverty.
How much would a living wage have to be for someone to live in Seattle? I know someone has had to have done research on it.