Marilyn Watkins: Expert declaration on the minimum wage

Prior to the passage of I-688, the minimum wage for Washington workers  could only be raised by an act of the legislature or an initiative amending the Washington  minimum wage statute, or if Congress established a higher minimum wage. As a result, the minimum wage often went years between increases, during which periods, inflation would  erode the spending power of minimum wage employees. For example, the state minimum  wage remained at $2.30 between 1976 and 1988. The federal minimum wage increased in  steps early in that period, to $3.35 in 1981, superseding Washington’s minimum wage.  However, those increases were below the rate of inflation. Therefore, the value of the minimum wage fell steadily from 1978 through 1988, from $8.64 per hour to $6.12 per  hour in 2010 dollars (calculated using CPI-W). At the time of I-688’s passage,  Washington’s minimum wage had just experienced another loss of value, remaining at $4.90  from January 1994 until a federal minimum wage increase to $5.15 in September 1997.  Initiative 688 responded to this problem. It raised the state minimum wage in two  increments, to $5.70 in 1999 and $6.50 in 2000, then mandated automatic cost-of-living  adjustments beginning in 2001.

Despite the increases mandated by I-688, Washington’s current minimum  wage is still well below the level of the late 1960s. In 1968, the state minimum wage was  $1.60 per hour. In 2010 dollars, that would be equal to either $9.77 or $10.02, depending on  whether one measures inflation using the CPI-W or CPI-U. Therefore, even with an  increase of 12 cents, to $8.67 per hour, minimum wage workers would still be earning at  least $1.10 less per hour in current dollar terms than their counterparts in 1968.

  • Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More To Read

March 24, 2023

Women’s Labor is Women’s History 

To understand women's history, we must learn the role of women - and especially women of color - in the labor movement 

March 24, 2023

Victory! Washington Takes a Critical Step Towards Balancing our Tax Code

Washington state supreme court upholds the capital gains tax

February 15, 2023

Podcast: Getting to Lower Health Care Costs in Washington

EOI's Sam Hatzenbeler joins Washington's Indivisible Podcast to discuss our state's health care costs crisis and what the legislature can do to solve it