Raise in minimum wage has many unseen problems

On the surface it certainly sounds good.

Bumping the minimum wage in Washington state from its current $9.47 per hour —the highest in the nation — to $12 could help some people elevate themselves out of poverty.

House Bill 1355 recently passed the Democrat-leaning chamber of the state Legislature and is now in the hands of the Senate, primarily a Republican body. The conjecture is it will either die there, or undergo significant changes before it reemerges.

But before it might see daylight, what are some of the other costs besides the advertised $2.53 jump in pay?

Among the reasons proponents...