If it is true, that says that entry-level workers' productivity grows very quickly. Raising the minimum wage then represents only a short-term burden on employers because after a year productivity gains outweigh the increase in wages. In fact, minimum wage workers do not cause inflation. Their share of dollars within the overall Washington economy makes an increase in the minimum wage economically unimportant. However, as minimum wage workers, their total wage bill is between four and five percent of all wages paid in Washington State.
Wages typically equal approximately two-thirds of total state domestic product.
This means that if the wage hikes are fully passed on in the form of higher prices, it will increase the price of all goods combined which are produced in Washington state by between eight and ten hundredths of a percent. In this case the costs to consumers would be even less. Once you do the math, you see that the inflation argument is a red herring. The minimum wage is not a driver for inflation. Global economic forces and events are.