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Seattle’s $15 Wage Spurs Adoption, Defies Job-Loss Myths

5/22/2026

33 3 Full Breakdown

Summary

Seattle Raises Wage

Seattle raised its minimum wage to $15 in 2014; the change avoided closures or job losses and boosted spending.
Voter approval later prompted San Francisco and Missouri, Nebraska, Florida, and Alaska to adopt minimum wages.
A $15 minimum-wage proposal to the Democracy Alliance in fall 2011 drew laughter and skepticism from donors.
1990s research by Alan Krueger and David Card argued wage hikes do not necessarily kill jobs, challenging assumptions.

Summary

Wage Hike Benefits

Arindrajit Dube et al. studied 138 state minimum-wage changes (1979-2016) and found no job loss.
Germany’s 2015 minimum wage, covering 15 percent of workers, avoided forecasts of up to 900,000 job losses.
A 2020 Berkeley scanner study found a 10 percent wage hike raised grocery prices by only 0.36 percent.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and IZA found households spent more after a $1 wage rise and linked wage hikes to reduced poverty.

History

Historical Context

In 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act, establishing a 25-cent federal minimum wage after the Supreme Court had upheld state wage floors in West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937). The act survived challenges (United States v. Darby, 1941) and set a precedent for modern experiments such as Seattle’s 2014 ordinance that raised the city minimum to $15 per hour.

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Seattle Raises Wage

Seattle raised its minimum wage to $15 in 2014; the change avoided closures or job losses and boosted spending.
Voter approval later prompted San Francisco and Missouri, Nebraska, Florida, and Alaska to adopt minimum wages.
A $15 minimum-wage proposal to the Democracy Alliance in fall 2011 drew laughter and skepticism from donors.
1990s research by Alan Krueger and David Card argued wage hikes do not necessarily kill jobs, challenging assumptions.

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