Governor Jay Inslee is pushing for an increase in the state's minimum wage. Inslee wants it increased by up  to $2.50 an hour.  The governor believes that the increase will not hurt business because it will put  more money in the hands of employees which in turn will help business.  Erin Shannon, The small business  director with the Washington Police Center says there is no evidence to back up the governors claim. "It's going to make the cost of doing business go up in Washington State, that means employers are going to do two things. They're going to reduce their cost of doing business, meaning they're going to hire less workers or layoff workers they already have, it also means they're going to pass whatever costs that they may have to absorb onto consumers.

Shannon says small incremental increases don't impact businesses but increasing it by as much as the Governor is proposing would be devastating, costing jobs and causing prices to go up.

Washington already has the highest minimum wage in the country at $9.32 an hour.

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