In a new paper, the authors behind an earlier study predicting dire consequences for raising Seattle’s minimum wage to $15 have all but recanted their initial conclusions.
Like some other thriving West Coast cities, a few years ago Seattle passed an ordinance raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in a series of steps.
A Bloomberg.com op-ed piece points out that opponents of the minimum-wage increase called it an “economic death wish” that was going to tank the expansion and kill jobs. They predicted restaurants would close in significant numbers and unemployment to rise.
Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (see chart) shows that the rate of employment growth in the Seattle metro area has not changed.
