DC's Initiative 82 Has Been A Horror Story

In May 2023, Washington DC began eliminating the city’s base minimum wage for tipped restaurant workers, a law called Initiative 82. EPI used government data to determine how the law impacted jobs and earnings of local tipped restaurant workers. A report on the impacts of the law in January 2025 featured US Bureau of Labor Statistics quarterly data showing DC had lost roughly 3.5% of its tipped restaurant workforce. A subsequent report – responding to a pro-I82 organization’s claim the law was a “success” – included updated BLS data showing that figure grew to 5% job losses. Another report, this time debunking misleading analysis from the DC Office of the Budget Director, found DC tipped workers lost $12 million in total earnings since the law began through the end of 2024. Another report used US Census Bureau data on individual workers’ earnings to find the law hurt lower-earning tipped workers the most, increasing the earnings gap between highest- and lowest-earning tipped restaurant workers by 20 percentage points, contrary to pro-I82 advocates claims the law would increase worker equity.
This research was featured in Wall Street Journal and Washington Post opinion pieces, and featured in coverage by Washingtonian Magazine, Washington Business Journal, Baltimore Sun, and local broadcast outlets: DC News Now, WTOP, WUSA, Fox 5 DC.
The harmful impacts in DC triggered the City Council to hold a January 2025 hearing on the issue, which featured the EPI research director’s testimony on the existing data on the topic. In May 2025, Mayor Muriel Bowser used EPI’s analysis of restaurant job loss from the “DC is a Horror Story, Not a ‘Success’” report in her FY26 budget presentation, in which she proposed repealing the law. Since then, the Council voted 8-4 to pause the upcoming increase to DC’s tipped minimum wage, citing the data on the harmful impacts of the law to date. The Council’s Executive Administration & Labor Committee has advanced a version of the budget that keeps the Mayor’s proposal to repeal the law.