Seattle's minimum wage, one of the highest in US, goes up again in January

Seattle’s minimum wage will soon rise again. Starting Jan. 1, the wage will be $20.76. The change will affect both employees and business owners.

Damon Kauhola, a part-time barback in Seattle, said the pay bump will provide a layer of financial security.

“When I go grocery shopping or something, I won’t have to necessarily zero in on the cash register hoping that that payment goes through,” Kauhola said.

For years, businesses have been able to apply customer tips toward worker pay and benefits. But that practice expires at the end of this year.

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Business owners are making adjustments to help pay raises.

“Maybe that’s an hour shaved off of this employee’s weekly hourly or this other employee’s weekly hourly, which isn’t something that we want to do, but it’s just the reality,” said Sarah Zehner, who co-owns Mulleady’s Irish Pub in Magnolia.

Zehner added that she and her business partner will have to take on more hours in order to make the math work. And she said she might have to consider raising menu prices, though she worries it would discourage people from dining out.

A recent survey by Seattle Good Business Network, the nonprofit behind Seattle Restaurant Week, underscored Zehner’s concerns.

“People understand that restaurants have to raise their prices, and they’re saying, ‘I can no longer afford to eat out as much. I may be pickier where I go,’” said Program Director Mariah DeLeo.

The poll was taken this past fall, in anticipation of the new wage increase. DeLeo said she can appreciate diners’ concerns; they have to manage their budgets, too.

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“I feel the diner perspective needs to come into play, just because they’re dealing with their own kinds of pressures on budgets and things like that,” she said. “Ultimately, their business is making the business run.”

Seattle restaurants have already seen a drop in diner visits in the past few years.

Sean Case, a line cook in a Seattle restaurant, expects to see his hourly wage go up by $2 an hour.

“It’s not going to completely change my life. But it gives me a little bit of breathing room,” he said.

Case said the public debate about raising the minimum wage opened up the conversation around transparency, equity, and tip pools. He said he sees more opportunity to broaden the discussion beyond workers and business owners.

“We do need to have an honest and bolder conversation about how to actually protect small businesses,” he said, “without sacrificing the workers who run them because those hardships exist.”