When It Comes to the Minimum Wage, the Rest of Washington State Gets 15, Too! (Sort of.)

AM

"Because the rent won't wait." A true statement, whether your minimum wage is headed up by $0.15 in 2015 (outside Seattle) or incrementally toward $15 (within Seattle).

I know Ansel mentioned it yesterday in Morning News, but it's worth pointing out again: The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries has announced the newest increase in the state minimum wage, which will go into effect in January of 2015 and brings the state's minimum to $9.47 an hour.

"L&I calculates the state's minimum wage each year at this time as required under Initiative 688," they said in a statement, "which Washington voters approved in 1998." Each year, thanks to that initiative, the state minimum wage increases based on federal Consumer Price Index, which this year will mean a 1.59 percent increase in the wage.

What's that increase add up to? We kid you not: It is a 15-cent increase. Har-har. Hey, maybe that's what all those "15" T-shirts were about! They just left out the unit of measure? ("What do we want? 15 [more cents]!") L&I says the increase will affect around 67,000 workers who will make about $312 more per year.

A minimum wage of $9.47 an hour—still the highest in the nation—is totally not enough to live on. And that's especially true in cities like Seattle, where an average one-bedroom apartment rents for more than $1,200 a month. But this does make for a good moment to remember that here in Seattle, coming next April, the minimum wage will start moving along this wage-hike schedule, which will mean:

Seattle minimum wage April-December 2015:

• If your employer has more than 500 employees in the US: $11 an hour

• If your employer has fewer than 500 employees in the US: $10 an hour, but with an additional $1 an hour in tips, health-care benefits, or wages.

That last part sound confusing?

It kind of is. But all it means is that if you make at least $1 an hour in tips or your employer pays at least $1 an hour toward your health insurance, your cash minimum wage will be $10 an hour starting in April of 2015. If they don't do either of those things, your cash minimum wage will be $11 starting in April of 2015, just like people who work for larger companies.

For people working for those larger-scale employers, whether you receive paid health-care coverage from your employer doesn't matter in the first year, but it will start to matter in 2016. Also, not to add to the confusion, but lest we forget, Tim Eyman is working to shut the whole thing down and there's still a federal court case by franchise companies rumbling along.

But um, let's just deal with that then, shall we? For now, Seattle can rejoice in the fact that we're on the road to the right kind of 15: $15, not 15 cents. And the rest of the state? I guess it's time for y'all to get to work. This wage was made possible by workers, activists, and the politicians who eventually got on board and made it happen. Best of luck, workers everywhere else—we're rooting for you!