CBO projects $15 minimum wage would cost 1.3 million jobs

[Common]

I have always spoken out for workers, and I believe people that work should be treated fairly.


The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Monday that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, up from the current rate of $7.25 a hour, would likely cause 1.3 million people to lose their jobs.

This would erase the overall benefits of the higher wage, with family income falling by $9 billion or about 0.1%, adjusted for inflation.


The report comes as Democrats in Congress are pushing to more than double the federal minimum wage. House Democrats are expected to vote on the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the rate to $15 by 2024, before the August recess.



The agency's analysis found that while the poorest would benefit from the effort, most others would see losses. The increase would raise the pay of about 17 million workers currently below the $15 level and another 10 million workers slightly above it, but this would be offset by the reduction in income for families above the poverty line due to fewer jobs, higher prices, and loss in income for business owners.


"CBO estimates that families whose income would be below the poverty threshold under current law would receive an additional $8 billion in real family income in 2025 under this option. That would amount to a 5.3% increase in income, on average, for such families. That extra income would move, on net, roughly 1.3 million people out of poverty. Real income would fall by about $16 billion for families above the poverty line," the report found.


House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., said the report showed that "the benefits vastly outweigh any costs" of raising the wage to $15, citing its estimation that 27 million would see their paychecks increase.


"If the job loss is the only thing they look at, obviously they will have concerns, but anybody who reads the whole report would be impressed," Scott said.


Business groups countered that the report should give lawmakers pause. "The consequences will be especially brutal for small businesses, which already operate within razor-thin budget margins. House Democrats — who are expected to consider federal $15 minimum wage legislation this month — should take into account Monday’s report and pursue policies that will push wages up without hurting the economy," said Alfredo Ortiz, president of the Job Creators Network, an ad-hoc coalition of trade groups.


https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/p...3-million-jobs

[stjames1_53]

Let's be honest here. The only people who would really benefit from the min. wage hike is the tax collectors.

[FindersKeepers]

Finally the CBO weighs in on what conservatives have been trying to tell the liberals for years. It's about time.

[Chris]

Minimum wage raises harm the poorest and least skilled.

CBO Says $15 Federal Minimum Wage Will Cost 1.3 Million Jobs

Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would cost an estimated 1.3 jobs but would also lift more workers above the poverty line, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates in a report released Monday.

...If implemented by 2025, the CBO estimates, the $15 federal minimum wage would boost paychecks for 17 million workers who would otherwise earn less than $15 per hour. About 10 million workers who now earn about $15 an hour might see their paychecks increase slightly as well. The trade-off would be 1.3 million more people out of work. Those who lose their jobs (or are unable to find them in the first place) are likely to be lower-income workers, unskilled workers, and those with little work experience.

..."For most low-wage workers, earnings and family income would increase, which would lift some families out of poverty. But other low-wage workers would become jobless, and their family income would fall—in some cases, below the poverty threshold," the CBO concludes.

...But it's important to remember that any negative consequences—regardless of what they might be—will fall most heavily on workers with fewer skills or little experience. Someone who has a hard time finding a job that pays $8 an hour will be completely out of luck if employers are required to hire only workers who are worth $15 an hour.

It's also important to remember that low-wage workers aren't always from low-income families. Think of teenagers working summer jobs, for example, or students working part-time while they pursue higher education. In other words, some of the beneficiaries of higher minimum wages aren't really what is traditionally thought of as "poor"—and the truly needy are more likely to lose out on entry-level jobs.

...Having the feds set a minimum wage rate introduces additional problems. The law's consequences in poorer, rural states will not be the same as its consequences in places with a higher cost of living. In other words, a $15 minimum wage will do more damage in Mississippi than in New York City. Forcing all American businesses to pay the same minimum wages makes little sense....

[MMC]

Minimum wage raises harm the poorest and least skilled.

CBO Says $15 Federal Minimum Wage Will Cost 1.3 Million Jobs

Oh so now they agree with Sowell and Walt Williams. Imagine that.

[Chris]

Oh so now they agree with Sowell and Walt Williams. Imagine that.

I think there were some early short-term studies of Seatle that said jobs are not lost. But that is a strawman, generally speaking, those now working do not lose their jobs, but there are less new jobs available for hire. And later studies found longer-term negative effects which have now been adopted in CBO models.

[MMC]

I think there were some early short-term studies of Seatle that said jobs are not lost. But that is a strawman, generally speaking, those now working do not lose their jobs, but there are less new jobs available for hire. And later studies found longer-term negative effects which have now been adopted in CBO models.

The brilliant Thomas Sowell, when in college, considered himself a Marxist. Asked what changed him, Sowell said, "Evidence."


After completing undergrad at Harvard and obtaining a master's in economics, Sowell landed a summer internship with the Department of Labor. While there, he researched the impact of minimum wage law on employment. Sowell learned two things, both of which he found startling. First, minimum wage laws create job loss by pricing the unskilled out of the labor force. Second, Sowell discovered that "the people in the labor department really were not interested in that, because the administration of the minimum wage was supplying one-third of the money that was keeping the labor department going. ... I realized that institutions have their own agendas and their own incentives." In short, Sowell found that the Department of Labor did not care about the real-world effects of the minimum wage law. He credits this experience, this search for evidence, with having the "biggest" impact on his thinking.


The left refers to the skeptics of "climate change" alarmism as "anti-science." But when it comes to left-wing passions like the $15 minimum wage, a "universal basic income" and the "wealth tax," it is the left that ignores evidence.


Economists have long studied the impact of minimum wage laws. The Employment Policies Institute is a Washington, D.C., based nonprofit organization that studies public policy issues pertaining to employment growth. It is managed by an economist formerly with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As to the $15 minimum wage, a 2015 EPI-commissioned survey of economists found:



"Nearly three-quarters of these US-based economists oppose a federal minimum wage of $15.00 per hour.


"The majority of surveyed economists believe a $15.00 per hour minimum wage will have negative effects on youth employment levels (83 percent), adult employment levels (52 percent), and the number of jobs available (76 percent).


"When economists were asked what effect a $15.00 per hour minimum wage will have on the skill level of entry-level positions, 8 out of 10 economists (80 percent) believe employers will hire entry-level positions with greater skills.


"When economists were asked what effect a $15.00 per hour minimum wage will have on small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, nearly 7 out of 10 economists (67 percent) believe it would make it harder for them to stay in business."....snip~


https://townhall.com/columnists/larr...-down-n2543439



Larry Elder just had Sowell on his radio show talking all about it.

[DGUtley]

...but we mean well...

[MMC]

'Equal Pay, Equal Pay, Equal Pay'
Jesse Jackson, Chicago Sun Times


Well.....then there is Jesse.

[Tahuyaman]

Finally the CBO weighs in on what conservatives have been trying to tell the liberals for years. It's about time.

It's not going to matter. Too many liberals / Democrats are all in on the $15.00 hr minimum wage.

Why did they end up at $15.00 an hour? Why not $16.00 or even $20.00? After all, how can one support a family on a single income of $15.00 an hour? In many metro areas, that's not going to even pay the rent.