Federal data shows dramatic 55% boost to restaurant spending & similar increases in other categories as income rises from $9.32/hour to $15/hour
Healthcare workers, retail workers, fast food workers, childcare providers, and other supporters of $15 for Seattle will speak out about how a $15 minimum wage will change their lives at Wednesday’s public hearing on the minimum wage, hosted jointly by the City Council and the mayor’s income inequality advisory committee at Town Hall Seattle.
Beginning at 4:30 pm, workers and other supporters of $15 for Seattle will be outside the event preparing to give testimony about what low-wage workers will do with a $15 wage. See our fact sheet for more information on how higher wages boost spending at bookstores, restaurants, and other businesses.
Who: Poverty-wage workers and $15 for Seattle supporters
What: Speak out at the first — and maybe only — public hearing on the $15 minimum wage
When: Wednesday, March 5, 2014. Workers and supporters will be outside the event beginning at 4:30 pm. Media availability earlier in the day may be arranged: contact Sage Wilson, Working Washington, sage@workingwa.org.
Where: Town Hall Seattle, 1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca Street), Seattle, WA 98101. (Even though this is an official hearing it is at Town Hall, not at City Hall.
More information:
Despite the same old sky-is-falling stories that we’ve heard in debates over paid sick, wage theft, and even the plastic bag ban, real-world studies consistently show that higher wages are good for the economy. After all, more people with more money means more customers for every business out there.
- According to consumer spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a worker getting a raise from $9.32/hour to $15/hour will:
- increase spending at restaurants by 55%
- increase spending on automobiles by 79%
- increase spending on books by 26%
- Two-thirds of low-wage workers are employed by large corporations with more than 100 employees.
- An hourly wage of $17.56 would be required to afford fair market rent of $913/month on a 1-bedroom apartment in the Seattle area, assuming a full-time 40-hour-a-week schedule.
- The poorest 20% of Seattle households have income of only $13,000 a year. The top 5% average $423,000.
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Contact: Sage Wilson, Working Washington, sage@workingwa.org.