A newly released study from the University of Washington said that Seattle's increased minimum wage is hurting workers. But people against the study came forward and said that the study's findings are flawed.

The UW research paper has studied the effects of the first and second phase changes in the Seattle minimum wage ordinance, which raised the minimum wage from $9.47 to $11 per hour in the year 2015 and to $13 per hour in the year 2016.

According to the UW study, the second wage hike of $13 per hour has actually cut down the number of hours worked in the low-wage jobs by 9 percent, while the hourly wages in these jobs increased by 3 percent. As a result, the low-wage employees earnings have been reduced by an average of $125 per a month.

The study also said that there would be about 5,000 more low-wage jobs in the city without the law.

The UW research runs counter to a study released last week by the University of California at Berkeley, which found that Seattle's minimum wage law has boosted pay for restaurant workers without costing jobs.

Meanwhile, the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute has issued a statement on Monday questioning the methodology of the research conducted by UW, calling it as "fundamentally flawed."

"(The) study ... suffers from a number of data and methodological problems that undermine and cast doubt on its conclusions," the statement said, adding that the UW researchers calculated employment losses "that are well outside the bounds of most published research on the minimum wage (and) contains several notable flaws that cast significant doubt on its findings."

The conflicting studies are certain to add to the debate as activists around the country push for increases in local, state and federal minimum wages.

In the year 2014 Seattle has become one of the first cities to adopt the law aiming for a minimum wage of $15.

Seattle's law has given the small businesses employing less than 500 people seven years in order to phase it in. Large employers had to do so over three or four years, depending on whether they offer health insurance to their employees.

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Mrudula Duddempudi.