Seattle is also a very wealthy city already so the absorbsion of higher labor costs is a more elastic. However, you have to look at the greater trend, the U.S. unemployment rate has fallen quite lot since this law was ever enacted, and Seattle already had a lower than average unemployment rate.
The full effects of the law will not be felt until it is fully enacted anyhow, but it's important to remember that Seattle isn't some isolated economy, and it is experiencing big economic growth from two of the largest and most successful (and most valuable) companies in the world, Microsoft and Amazon; not to mention just the national aggregate of economic growth.
It would be a lot more interesting to see a sector by sector breakdown of labor slack. Restaurant closings after the law began to hike wages to the eventual $15 spiked well above the national average. I doubt that's a coincidence. I honestly don't think you will be able to see a significant effect until after a recession and we can see the effects of sticky wages with a much higher price floor.
My guess is that it will still be fairly muted, because....Microsoft and Amazon are both based in the Seattle area; but the effects could perhaps be better measured. Anyone doing a victory lap now is definitely jumping the gun.
The full effects of the law will not be felt until it is fully enacted anyhow, but it's important to remember that Seattle isn't some isolated economy, and it is experiencing big economic growth from two of the largest and most successful (and most valuable) companies in the world, Microsoft and Amazon; not to mention just the national aggregate of economic growth.
It would be a lot more interesting to see a sector by sector breakdown of labor slack. Restaurant closings after the law began to hike wages to the eventual $15 spiked well above the national average. I doubt that's a coincidence. I honestly don't think you will be able to see a significant effect until after a recession and we can see the effects of sticky wages with a much higher price floor.
My guess is that it will still be fairly muted, because....Microsoft and Amazon are both based in the Seattle area; but the effects could perhaps be better measured. Anyone doing a victory lap now is definitely jumping the gun.