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The 1998 Minimum Wage Initiative in Washington State: A Case Study

10.01.1998 | Two-thirds of the electorate supported an initiative to increase Washington's minimum wage, making it the most popular ballot issue that year. Indeed, the minimum wage initiative was the only initiative to win in every single county in the state. | Read

Who Benefits from an Increase in the Minimum Wage?

10.01.1998 | David Macpherson produced a study entitled "The Effects of the Proposed 1999-2000 Washington Minimum Wage Increase" for the Employment Policies Institute. While the summary and body of the study are useful for the propaganda purposes of the opponents to the minimum wage increase, the data in the appendices undermine their own arguments regarding who the minimum wage will benefit. | Read

Employment and the Minimum Wage

10.01.1998 | Opponents of the proposed increase in the minimum wage assert that raising the minimum wage will result in lost jobs and lost job opportunities. This is an old argument which may correspond with neoclassical economic theory, but which is not related to the reality of minimum wage increases. | Read

Increasing the Minimum Wage: Initiative 688

09.01.1998 | Initiative 688, the Paycheck Protection Act, is a ballot measure in Washington State that will increase the minimum wage to $5.70 per hour on January 1, 1999 and to $6.50 per hour on January 1, 2000. Thereafter, the minimum wage will be adjusted annually by the rate of inflation. An increase in the minimum wage will be a key step in bringing low income workers into the middle class. | Read