It Makes Sense to Raise the Minimum Wage

since it would spur demand, thus creating more jobs in the long run. The only drawback I see from this proposal, provided it actually becomes law, is that more businesses will employ part-time workers instead of full-time ones in order to save money on pay and benefits.

After weeks of careful ballot counting, officials in Washington state on Tuesday certified the results in a potentially historic vote that will create far and away the highest minimum wage in America.

Squeaking by with a mere 77-vote margin, the ballot measure known as Proposition 1 will set a $15 wage floor for an estimated 6,000 airport and hotel workers in SeaTac, Wash., a suburb of 27,000 residents south of Seattle.

While the vote count had been too close to call in the days following the Nov. 5 election, the King County Elections commission posted the official results on its website late Tuesday: 3,040 in favor of the measure, 2,963 against. There were 12,108 registered voters eligible to cast ballots.

Businesses can't be trusted, especially in this current economic climate, to do the right thing.