The 13 U.S. states that raised their minimum wages at the beginning of this year are adding jobs at a faster pace than those that did not.
The number of jobs grew an average of 0.85 percent from January through June. The average for the other 37 states was 0.61 percent.
The AP story reporting this fact calls it "counter-intuitive ".
They are wrong. It is very intuitive. "Trickle-down" orthodoxy is ass-backwards. Give a multi-millionare $1,000 and he'll park it in an off-shore account. Give a working man or woman and additional $1,000 a year and they'll spend all of it, likely in their local community (rent, groceries, etc.) and thereby provide stimulus for the local economy.
From the AP story:
Nine of the 13 states increased their minimum wages automatically in line with inflation: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington. Four more states - Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island - approved legislation mandating the increases.
Twelve of those states have seen job growth this year, while employment in Vermont has been flat. The number of jobs in Florida has risen 1.6 percent this year, the most of the 13 states with higher minimums. Its minimum rose to $7.93 an hour from $7.79 last year.