washington business
“It was never my intent to impose yet another
financial burden on the school system as
we are trying to fund McCleary.”
department of a Safeway store before going to college and
embarking on a professional career.
It’s the path that Americans have followed for decades —
but it’s one that could be threatened by a large hike in the
— Rep. Gael Tarleton, D-Seattle, explaining why she wanted public
minimum wage.
schools exempted from her proposal to require paid vacation leave
Already, the state of Washington — which has the highest minimum wage in the country — has a
youth unemployment rate far higher than the
national average. Last year, the unemployment
rate for workers age 16-19 was 30.6 percent in
Washington state, compared to 22.9 percent
nationwide.
Since 1998, when Washington voters passed
Initiative 688 raising the minimum wage
and indexing it to inflation, the state’s youth
unemployment rate has outpaced the national
average by an average 5.1 percent, according to
the Washington Research Council.
The higher the minimum wage rises, the
less likely employers will be to take a chance
(L to R) Sens. Bruce Dammeier, R-Puyallup, Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue, and Steve Litzow,
hiring young, inexperienced workers.
R-Mercer Island, review legislation from the Senate floor.
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in my c