Seattle Proposes $15 Minimum Wage Plan

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray yesterday revealed a plan to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, more than double the current national minimum of $7.25 an hour. The plan, the result of a panel that included both business and labor leaders, would apply to 102,000 workers and kick in slowly over a number of years, beginning with the largest businesses in 2017 and impacting all employers by 2021. Annual increases thereafter would be tied to inflation. The city’s plan was introduced just days after Hawaii lawmakers voted to raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, also to be phased in over time, beginning in 2018.

Though states have moved on the minimum wage issue, Congressional Republicans this week stalled an effort to vote on a bill that would set $10.10 per hour as the national hourly rate. That plan is likely to be introduced again, however, as Democrats are making minimum wage a major  issue in the lead-up to November’s midterm elections.