States That Raised Minimum Wage Saw Faster Job Growth So Far In 2014

States with higher minimum wages saw faster job growth in the first six months of 2014 than states that have not raised their wages, according to an analysis by the Associated Press. In the 13 states that have raised their minimum wage at the beginning of the year, jobs grew by 0.85 percent on average. In the 37 states in which the minimum wage remained unchanged jobs grew by 0.61 percent on average, according to state-by-state job growth data released by the Labor Department on Friday. Nine states raise their minimum wage parallel to inflation: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. And four states recently passed laws raising the minimum wage: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island. John Schmitt, a senior economist at the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research, told the AP that the data “isn’t definitive,” but provides a good “first cut” of the impact of minimum wage on job growth.

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