As the minimum wage goes up in Seattle–with workers now required to make as much as $15 an hour, and all workers set to make that much by 2021–the city has become a bellwether for other communities that are looking to raise their minimum wage or have one already scheduled. Instead of arguing about economic theory, we can finally look at real data. One recent report found that the changes haven’t led to a loss in jobs in food service, a key industry for low-wage jobs. But another new study says that the effects are more complicated: While the overall number of restaurant jobs might not have changed much, the researchers believe that low-wage workers in the city are working fewer hours. Even though those workers might be earning more per hour, the study finds, they’re losing an average of $125 a month.

The study, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, is still a work in process and has not yet been peer-reviewed (it has also already attracted significant criticism). The researchers, economists from the University of Washington, used unique data that includes both hourly wages and the number of hours worked for individuals, something that past studies haven’t; only four states, including Washington, collect such detailed data.

“Seattle’s economy’s been doing very well for a number of years, and there’s nothing magical about the first quarter of 2016,” says Plotnick. “It’s been booming really since the recession ended. But the fact that we see this impact right when the wage goes up is strong evidence. Could something else have driven it? Perhaps. But it was our best judgment that we were picking up a real effect and not something that was a coincidence.”

Read the source article at fastcompany.com