{"id":2352547,"date":"2024-10-09T11:04:57","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T15:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washingtons-highest-in-nation-minimum-wage-to-go-up-to-16-66-an-hour-in-2025-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-10-09T11:07:02","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T15:07:02","slug":"washingtons-highest-in-nation-minimum-wage-to-go-up-to-16-66-an-hour-in-2025-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/washingtons-highest-in-nation-minimum-wage-to-go-up-to-16-66-an-hour-in-2025-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Washington\u2019s highest-in-nation minimum wage to go up to $16.66 an hour in 2025 &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwashingtons-highest-in-nation-minimum-wage-to-go-up-to-16-66-an-hour-in-2025-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2352547&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Washington State&#8217;s minimum wage\u2064 is set to increase \u2063from $16.28 to $16.66 per hour beginning January 1, 2025, marking a 2.35% rise. This adjustment, based\u2062 on\u2064 the Consumer\u200d Price\u200b Index (CPI-W), reflects\u200b rising housing and food costs over the past year. Local jurisdictions, such as Seattle and SeaTac, have the authority to establish even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shapiro-debunking-the-15-minimum-wage\/\" title=\"SHAPIRO: Debunking The  Minimum Wage\">higher minimum wages<\/a>; for example, Seattle&#8217;s rate will increase from $19.97 to $20.76 per hour. Other cities, like Tukwila and Olympia, are also considering increases to their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/caruzo-socialists-create-foreign-currency-tax-to-bring-bolivar-back-from-the-dead\/\" title=\"CARUZO \u2013 Socialists Create Foreign Currency Tax to Bring Bolivar Back from the Dead\">minimum wage rates<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>Experts note that while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-15-minimum-wage-would-raise-childcare-costs-hurt-families-heritage-foundation\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s  Minimum Wage Would Raise Childcare Costs, Hurt Families: Heritage Foundation\">minimum wage hikes<\/a> may benefit workers in \u2062the short\u2064 term, they could lead to \u2062reduced hours or job losses in the long run, as businesses grapple with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/unemployment-inflation-and-automation-the-truth-about-the-15-minimum-wage\/\" title=\"Unemployment, Inflation, and Automation: The Truth About The  Minimum Wage\">higher labor costs<\/a>. As a result, \u2062employers might have\u2063 to adjust their \u2064operations\u2064 or\u2063 pricing to accommodate these increases, which poses a particular challenge for small businesses with tighter \u2063profit margins.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Washington&rsquo;s highest-in-nation minimum wage to go up to $16.66 an hour in 2025<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1780197\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>(The Center Square) &ndash; Washington&rsquo;s minimum wage &ndash; already the highest state-level minimum wage in the nation &ndash; will be going up 38 cents next year. That means minimum wage workers will get a raise, but employers will also pay more in 2025.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The Washington State Department of Labor &amp; Industries, or L&amp;I, recently&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lni.wa.gov\/news-events\/article\/24-24\">announced<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;the state&rsquo;s minimum wage will rise to $16.66 an hour next year, a 2.35% increase over the current minimum wage of $16.28. The new rate will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>State law directs L&amp;I to calculate the minimum wage for the next year using the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics&rsquo; Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. This index measures the cost of living for households where more than half of income comes from clerical or wage occupations.<\/p>\n<p>Housing and food costs have gone up over the past 12 months, according to L&amp;I, leading to an increase in the CPI-W.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lni.wa.gov\/workers-rights\/wages\/minimum-wage\/#:~:text=Local%20Minimum%20Wage%20Rates&amp;text=Seattle%20%3A%20%2419.97%2Fhr.,%2C%202024%2C%20%2418.29%2Fhr.\">Local jurisdictions<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;within Washington, including cities, can set minimum wages higher than the state rate, and Seattle, SeaTac and Tukwila, among others, have done so.<\/p>\n<p>The Seattle Office of Labor Standards has announced that the city&rsquo;s minimum wage will&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_41b722b0-827a-11ef-970d-c3d464e8b8f2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>increase<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;from the current $19.97 per hour to $20.76 per hour, beginning Jan. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/more-executive-orders-biden-raises-minimum-wage-to-15-for-federal-contractors-including-tipped-workers\/\" title=\"More Executive Orders: Biden Raises Minimum Wage To  For Federal Contractors, Including Tipped Workers\">hourly minimum wage<\/a> in SeaTac will rise next year to&nbsp;$20.17 from $19.71, the city&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seatacwa.gov\/home\/showpublisheddocument\/38011\/638634620180370000\">announced<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;at the beginning of the month.<\/p>\n<p>As of Jan. 1 this year, the minimum wage in Tukwila is&nbsp;$20.29 per hour for large employers and $19.29 per hour for mid-size employers.<\/p>\n<p>In Washington&rsquo;s capital city of Olympia, the city council is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/washington\/article_a4fe9752-84e8-11ef-bcfd-2b9be26cffc5.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>considering<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;raising the minimum wage to at least $20.29 &ndash; nearly $4 more than the state&rsquo;s 2025 minimum wage &ndash; and adopting a Workers&rsquo; Bill of Rights. The proposal will be discussed in a study session later this month.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, the King County Council&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/kingcounty.gov\/en\/dept\/council\/governance-leadership\/county-council\/newsroom\/2024\/5-14-council-min-wage-approved-release#:~:text=The%20proposal%20will%20set%20the,an%20increase%20based%20on%20inflation.\">approved<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;a proposal to set the minimum wage at $20.29 per hour across unincorporated King County, effective Jan. 1, 2025. The new wage will also be subject to an increase based on inflation.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Harmsworth, director of the Center for Small Business at the Washington Policy Center think tank, noted the tradeoffs involved in government-imposed minimum wage hikes.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Minimum&nbsp;wage&nbsp;increases are always hard for both employee and employer,&rdquo; he said in an email to The Center Square. &ldquo;The employee thinks they are getting more money in the short term, but the longer-term effect is less hours and in some cases, a loss of a job.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He continued: &ldquo;An employer&rsquo;s income from products and services is finite and the only options when government mandates a&nbsp;wage&nbsp;increase are to reduce costs (employees) or raise prices. A&nbsp;minimum&nbsp;wage&nbsp;is not supposed to be a living&nbsp;wage.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That means businesses must budget for higher labor costs, which can be especially challenging for small businesses with limited profit margins.<\/p>\n<p>That was hinted at in a recent&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/article\/entrepreneurship-startups-and-business-formation-are-booming-across-the-u-s\/#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20businesses%20grew%20in%2085%20percent%20of%20counties&amp;text=A%20map%20showing%20percentage%20growth,establishments%20between%202019%20and%202023.&amp;text=Hover%20or%20click%20to%20see%20values.,-Use%20%2B%2F%2D%20buttons\">report<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;from the Center for American Progress that shattered the notion of Washington as a business-friendly state, at least in terms of new business start-up growth.<\/p>\n<p>The report showed that the Evergreen State is struggling compared to the rest of the country &ndash; including neighboring states Idaho, Oregon and California &ndash; when it comes to the number of private business establishments by county between 2019 and 2023.<\/p>\n<p>King, Pierce, Snohomish, Clark and Spokane counties all experienced negative private business growth rates over the four-year period of the study.<\/p>\n<p>A LendingTree&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lendingtree.com\/business\/small\/failure-rate\/#:~:text=23.2%25%20of%20private%20sector%20businesses,to%20difficulties%20for%20new%20businesses\">study<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;earlier this year, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, found that Washington had the highest first-year business failure rate in the nation, at 40.8%, for the time period between March 2022 and March 2023.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1780197\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1780197\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington&#8217;s minimum wage will rise to $16.66 in 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2352548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24014160623172-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[4832,32421,4086],"class_list":["post-2352547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-labor","tag-minimum-wage","tag-washington"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/AP24014160623172-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2352547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2352547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2352548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2352547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2352547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2352547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}