Seattles minimum-wage experiment offers encouaraging results

[think]

Seattle’s minimum-wage experiment offers encouaraging results

12/09/16 09:26 AM—UPDATED 12/09/16 09:36 AM
By Steve Benen

When Seattle raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour, the right predicted an economic disaster for the city. The predictions were entirely in line with what Republican policymakers say anytime the subject comes up anywhere: raising the cost of labor will lead employers to hire fewer workers, which has the effect of pushing unemployment higher.

Bloomberg View’s Barry Ritholtz published a piece this week taking a look at how those predictions are holding up in Seattle’s case study.

As one of my colleagues wrote last week, the “unemployment rate in the city of Seattle – the tip of the spear when it comes to minimum wage experiments – has now hit a new cycle low of 3.4%.” Meanwhile, a University of Washington study on the minimum wage law found little or no evidence of job losses or business closings.

Although you can never declare a game over until the final whistle, this experiment is starting to look like a rout.

In June 2014, local officials approved the $15 minimum wage, to be phased in over several years, and at the time, the city’s unemployment rate was 5.4%. The law first took effect in April 2015, when Seattle’s unemployment rate was 4.3%. As of last month, after the wage hike, the city’s unemployment rate was down to 3.4%.

There are a couple of relevant caveats to keep in mind....


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http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/seattles-minimum-wage-experiment-offers-encouaraging-results