Study: Seattle minimum wage hasn’t cut jobs

SEATTLE » Seattle’s $15-an-hour minimum wage law has boosted pay for restaurant workers without costing jobs, according to a study released Tuesday.

The report, from the University of California at Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, is certain to add to the debate as activists around the country push for increases in local, state and federal minimum wages.

The report (https://goo.gl/MyXD23 ) is the first in a series of reviews in which the institute is examining jurisdictions that have raised their minimum wages.

It focused on food service jobs, which some critics said could be disproportionately affected if increased wages forced restaurants to cut workers’ hours. Author Michael Reich said that hasn’t been the case.

The results should give more confidence to other jurisdictions around the country that have adopted $15-an-hour laws, he said.

“We were surprised,” Reich said Tuesday. “The results were so much clearer than is often the case.”

Last year, University of Washington researchers found mixed results for the Seattle law, which phases in an increase to $15 an hour by 2021. They said the law appeared to have slightly reduced the employment rate of low-wage workers even as it boosted pay.

But the new research, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, determined that “employment effects” in restaurants “were not statistically distinguishable from zero.”

Meanwhile, every 10 percent minimum wage increase in Seattle — up to $13, which is as high as Seattle’s minimum went during the study period — increased wages nearly 1 percent in food services overall and 2.3 percent in limited-service restaurants, such as fast-food chains, the report said.