Washington Research Council

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business costs

13th of March 2014

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 […]


24th of February 2014

Gubernatorial reactions to Chief Executive magazine's annual "Best & Worst States for Business" Report, including #36 Washington

In what looks a lot like a way to spark interest in the spring release of its annual ranking of state business climates based on CEO perceptions, Chief Executive magazine just published a list of how governors responded to the 2013 rankings. Here’s how the magazine conducts its ranking. Business leaders were asked to grade […]


18th of February 2014

New CBO report on federal minimum wage: 500,000 jobs lost if wage goes to $10.10; most increased earnings go to families not in poverty

Today’s minimum wage report from the Congressional Budget Office recasts the national minimum wage debate. Though couched in the carefully nuanced phrasing of the famously staid nonpartisan research office, it makes clear that hiking the minimum wage has employment consequences, contrary to the claims of proponents. The 40-page report, half of it a methodological appendix, […]