Seattle approves highest US minimum wage. $15/hr.

[bjl584]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101714388

[hamchan]

I live in Seattle and I could not pay my bills on 15$ an hour. I know very few people with more than a high school education who make less than that. People who think this is a high hourly wage have obviously never lived here.

[riverwed070707]

I live in Seattle and I could not pay my bills on 15$ an hour. I know very few people with more than a high school education who make less than that. People who think this is a high hourly wage have obviously never lived here.

I always find it interesting when this argument comes up in min wage discussions... I don't really think minimum wage has to meet a quota of being able to support yourself and/or your dependents. Minimum wage is a minimum value of fair wages, but theres no rule that says you have to be able to support a household on that amount. If it were enough to comfortably live on, it would create competition for the lowest rung of employment, increasing unemployement for low income households and making it hard for younger people with limited experience to find work.

As far as Seattle specific goes, I have never been nor lived there so I guess I don't feel qualified to weigh in on whether its justified. While I don't think anyone would argue that $31k is a lot of money to live on, it does seem crazy to me to be so substantially higher than the federal minimum and I can't imagine being a kid just out of high school or college making that amount. My first FT job with a bachelors degree paid $35k/year and that was less than a decade ago.

What are income taxes like in Washington? Curious how their income from taxes compares to other states.

[bigdaddybus]

What are income taxes like in Washington?

I dont think its Washington state, its Seattle. Lots of IT and Tech jobs in the area paying pretty well and these drive up the cost of housing in the area.

I have a friend who left IL where he made $80K a year in IT to head to Seattle and makes double that, plus bonuses. It is a very high cost of living area.

I compared my area/salary in Illinois to Seattle in a cost of living calculator and it said I need to make 48% more money to break even. basically, $15 in Seattle isnt squat, and thats the truth

[riverwed070707]

I dont think its Washington state, its Seattle. Lots of IT and Tech jobs in the area paying pretty well and these drive up the cost of housing in the area.

I have a friend who left IL where he made $80K a year in IT to head to Seattle and makes double that, plus bonuses. It is a very high cost of living area.

I compared my area/salary in Illinois to Seattle in a cost of living calculator and it said I need to make 48% more money to break even. basically, $15 in Seattle isnt squat, and thats the truth

I understand its the city and not the state but income is taxed at the state level...

I just think min wage increases, especially at the city level, are a vicious cycle. Increase min wage, business owners make less, busineses increase prices, it costs more to buy goods and services, people can't afford goods and services, increase min wages, rinse and repeat.

[hamchan]

Washington does not have a state income tax. And yes, minimum wage was originally intended to be a baseline liveable wage. $15 an hour is a livable wage for Seattle, but just barely. When I was a single mom making $18 an hour here I lived in a studio apartment with no car, and didn't have much left over at the end of the month after paying child support, food, bus fare, medical, etc. It was not an extravagant existence by any means.

The cost of living goes up whether you increase wages or not.

[disneysteve]

Increase min wage, business owners make less, busineses increase prices, it costs more to buy goods and services, people can't afford goods and services, increase min wages, rinse and repeat.

A podcast I listen to just had a couple of the team members return from a trip to Australia and New Zealand. They were reporting on their trip and mentioned that the minimum wage there is about $25/hr. There is also no tipping in restaurants but the servers get that high minimum wage. Sounds great. Except they were also reporting how extremely expensive everything is. Something that would cost $5 here might be $20 there (or more). So people doing minimally skilled work, like working at Starbucks, earn $25/hour, but because everything is so expensive, they really aren't any better off than someone here making $8/hour.

Folks who keep pushing for a higher minimum wage just don't seem to grasp that the money to pay those higher wages needs to come from somewhere.