Recently the City of Seattle passed a $15/hour minimum wage. It’s not as brutal to businesses as many make it out to be (it raises from current level to $15 over a few years).

What’s interesting isn’t so much the debate, national or local, or the dollar amount. But to me the most interesting part is the perception of value. Washington state already has a ‘high’ minimum wage1 at around $10 (just under), now Seattle and SEATAC have $15 minimum wages (with the latter city having some exceptions). So if you are within a reasonable commuting distance to either, why would you take a lower wage when you could commute to a much higher wage.

It’s not about the dollar amount, it’s about the fact that it is so much higher. If you live in a state and you are making less than $8 an hour, and you look at Seattle’s $15 an hour minimum — well you get a different perspective on the value of that money you are making.

How this all plays out should be very interesting to watch.

  1. Comparatively. 

Posted by Ben Brooks