Seattle’s minimum-wage increase made the most vulnerable workers poorer

In the battle for a higher minimum wage, the logic seems clear; raise wages for the lowest earners among us to bring them closer to a living wage. It’s great in intention, but it would now seem that in real world practice, it doesn’t play out that way. Seattle has gone through two significant minimum wage raises since 2015, and the data is starting to bear out. Yes, the wage went up, but the number of minimum wage jobs shrank and so did the hours businesses gave to them. The net result was a significant income loss for low-wage workers.