How a Rising Minimum Wage Affects Jobs in Seattle
If the comparison city, known as a control, did not experience a loss in hours worked similar to Seattle’s, this would suggest
that the minimum-wage increase was to blame for the reduction of hours in Seattle.
“The key challenge this study faces is how to separate the normal shift that’s happening in a booming labor market — where low-wage jobs disappear
and are replaced by higher-wage jobs — from an actual increase in the minimum wage,” said Ben Zipperer, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
The University of Washington researchers found that the minimum-wage increase resulted in higher wages,
but also a significant reduction in the working hours of low-wage earners.