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How public policy supports low-wage workers and the high cost of the minimum wage

There’s no dearth of good analysis on the effects of raising the minimum wage. Let me call attention to a few of them here. First, a look at the income supports available to low-wage workers, as shown in this graph from a short and incisive AEI blog post.   AEI fellow Robert Doar concludes, So […]

Bill Gates on raising the minimum wage: "I worry about what that does to job creation"

So should we all. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkh6ovLgUWE Additional comments from Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post.  

Investment slows when tax policies are uncertain

The National Association of Manufacturers recently conducted a survey of businesses. Here’s the short form. The release today of NAM/IndustryWeek Survey of Manufacturers confirms what manufacturers have long known, the expiration of the on-again and off-again investment tax incentives have companies holding off on making key purchases and thus delays the robust economic growth we […]

Victory for teachers' union – defeat for local schools

One of the more critical things left undone in the waning hours of the legislative session was the failure to make necessary changes in the state’s teacher evaluation program. TNT reporter Melissa Santos explains. Washington lawmakers adjourned Thursday without changing the state’s teacher evaluation system, which probably means Washington will lose its waiver from the […]

Headline writers give lawmakers an incomplete

Detect a pattern? Washington legislature adjourns; punts on big issues Legislative session ends without tackling some major issues State budget OK’d by Legislature, but much left undone Lawmakers pass budget, little else, as session ends

Teen employment in Seattle area among nation's lowest, says Brookings Institution. We knew that.

The Seattle Times reports this morning on a new study from the Brookings Institution. The employment rate for teens 16 to 19 in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area fell from 45.8 percent in 2000 to 25 percent in 2012, according to Brookings. That 20.8 percentage-point decline represents the 14th-deepest drop nationwide and puts Greater Seattle in the […]

Minimum wage lessons for Seattle's $15 won't be learned by looking at other cities

Earlier we looked at the wrangling over the effects of raising the minimum wage. When theory fails to provide clarity, a look at reality is appealing. So it’s not surprising that the Seattle Times seeks to learn lessons from San Francisco’s highest-in-the-nation $10.74 municipal minimum wage. The Times interviewed economists who have studied the effects, […]

Economists wrangle over $10.10 minimum wage, CFOs say increase will slow hiring

Among the challenges faced by policymakers (and that includes voters) trying to determine the effects of raising the minimum wage is sorting through the flood of conflicting information. Much of the conflict comes because people who are supposedly talking about the same thing are not, really, talking about the same thing. There’s a difference between […]

Regional economist sets a low bar. Says a $15 minimum wage is "not outrageous." It's also not a good idea.

Regional economist Dick Conway told KPLU that a $15 minimum wage is “really not that outrageous.” Conway has been on record before; he was the economist Gov. Inslee cited by name at AWB’s legislative day (about 41 minutes in). As a benchmark for setting public policy affecting thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of employees, […]

Seattle's $15 minimum wage debate heats up; Jordan Royer article in Crosscut provides needed perspective

The Seattle City Council and the Mayor’s Income Inequality Advisory Committee held a joint public hearing last night on the $15 minimum wage proposal. The Seattle Times has the story. It sounds like quite a show. About 700 people, many wearing red T-shirts with “15” on the front, cheered calls to enact a pay increase […]