Today Washington’s legal minimum wage goes up another notch, as it has on every Jan. 1 for eight years. The new rate is up 38 cents, to $7.98 an hour, making it the highest minimum wage in the nation – at least for a while. Oregon or Alaska usually catches up.

Naturally, this doesn’t sit well with Washington’s small-business community. Carolyn Logue, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, issued a grumpy press release, contending that increasing the minimum wage hurts low-skilled workers.

"We know for a fact that the vast majority of minimum-wage

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