Minimum wage and unemployment

by Phillip Wilson | Oct 2, 2004 | News

The state of Washington will have the nation’s highest minimum wage ($7.35 per hour) in January. Interestingly, Washington also has one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates at 6.2% (that national average is 5.4%). Coincidence? I’m not saying it is the only factor (my guess is at least a few of the 5 states with higher unemployment rates use the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, and Washington improved 3 spots from a year ago when their unemployment rate was 7.7%) but I firmly believe it is a contributing factor to the dubious distinction.