WA's New Minimum Wage: Worth More than 14-Cents
Get the Flash Player to see this player.
January 9, 2008
Seattle, WA – Washington's minimum wage workers are getting a cost-of-living increase in their first paycheck of 2008, and it's nothing to sneeze at. That 14 cents per hour may not seem like much, but it adds up. After eight years with the state's minimum wage pegged to inflation, both workers and employers appear to have benefitted.
Marilyn Watkins, policy director for the Economic Opportunity Institute, says eight years of small, annual minimum wage hikes added together have put Washington at the top of the nation's hourly pay scale.
"A worker here in Washington makes about $4,000 a year more than somebody earning the federal minimum wage elsewhere. That's a pretty significant difference."
While only 2 percent to 3 percent of workers earn minimum wage in Washington, Watkins says, they're making more than their counterparts in any other state. She adds that higher salaries have had a positive effect on business, too.
"Our job numbers grew about three times the rate of national job growth over the last year. So I think we've seen that having a strong minimum wage has been good for Washington workers, and good for our economy overall."
Critics of Washington's higher minimum wage say it's hard for businesses to come up with the extra money, but Watkins disagrees. She points out that the smaller, annual wage adjustments are easier for employers to plan and budget for.
Washington was the first state in the country to adjust its minimum wage to inflation. In 1998, Washington voters passed the Minimum Wage Initiative, which required tying the minimum wage to annual cost-of-living data beginning in 2000. Since then, nine other states have followed suit. In all, 32 states now pay more than the federal minimum wage.
The minimum hourly wage in Washington rose from $7.93 to $8.07 on Jan. 1. In comparison, California's is now $8 and Oregon's is $7.95. The federal minimum wage is $5.85 per hour; it's scheduled to rise in July to $6.55.