An effort to raise the minimum wage by around $3 in Tukwila has attracted enough votes to appear on the November ballot. This seems like it should be good news, right? Well…it depends on who you ask.
Here are Five Fast Facts about the Tukwila “Raise the Wage” campaign:
- 💰Where Are We Now? Currently, Tukwila businesses are required to pay the state minimum wage of $14.49/hour, but Seattle and SeaTac businesses are required to pay their respective city minimum wages of over $17 for most workers (the exact amount depends on the industry.)
- 💰💰What Would Change? The initiative would set Tukwila’s minimum wage to equal SeaTac, but for all industries. We’re talking roughly a 20% raise!
- 👍✔️Why Support It? Supporters say many in Tukwila commute to SeaTac for the higher paying jobs, so this would level the playing field and let them stay closer to home. It would also exempt businesses with less than 15 employees, and give bigger businesses three years to adjust. Seems very reasonable!
- 👎🚫Why Oppose It? Opponents say minimum wage increases often cause businesses to relocate to lower wage locations or close altogether. They point to a UDub study on Seattle from a few years ago as an example. After a similar wage increase, Seattle lost jobs and workers saw longer commutes because of job relocations (and the effort failed to address income inequality in the process.) This also all seems very reasonable! Wait a second…
- 🤔🤷What’s The Impact? Workers would, obviously, get paid more per hour. However, many businesses in the service industry (restaurants, hotels, and such) usually have thin profit margins, around 3%. Minimum wage increases can cut into this deeply, forcing them to cut back on costs. This usually means fewer people or fewer business hours. This, too, seems very reasonable. Except that it’s awful either way.
🔥Bottom line: This is a tough one. We’re all for higher Paychecks, of course! This could be a situation where fewer people actually end up with those higher paying jobs. Is this a net gain, or a net loss? It probably depends on which side of the dividing line you fall on. Either way, it’s something that should have a healthy public debate (and vote!)
What do you think about this issue?
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