Yesterday, Seattle’s mayor Ed Murray announced a plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. If implemented, the minimum wage would continue to increase over the next 3-7 years until it reaches $15 per hour for workers. This plan comes as part of a nationwide push from the Obama Administration to combat inequality.

At a recent press conference Murray stated that Seattle can potentially “lead the conversation and the nation to address this growing problem of income inequality”.

Seattle is the first major US city to make this kind of commitment but the hope is that others will follow. The plan must still be approved by Seattle’s City Council.  If the plan is approved, it will give small businesses with fewer than 500 workers seven years to implement the plan. Large businesses would have three years.