This article originally appeared on Fox News on July 17, 2019.
The “Raise the Wage Act” proposed by House Democrats will be up for a vote on Thursday and certain Blue Dog Democrats have expressed concern that raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour by 2026 could negatively impact their constituents. The Congressional Budget Office’s (“CBO”) report on the effects of such an increase clearly demonstrates that their concerns are justified.
CBO’s median estimate is that a federal minimum wage of $15 would result in 1.3 million fewer workers being employed. But, CBO also found that it would raise wages for 17 million workers who would otherwise make less than $15 per hour and “potentially” 10 million workers with wages slightly above the new federal minimum. That sounds like a pretty trade off. Unfortunately, it’s not.
Notwithstanding these wage increases, CBO found that a $15 federal minimum wage would reduce family incomes $8.7 billion by 2025. This reduction would result from higher rates of joblessness, price increases for consumers, and reduced economic output (growth) all offsetting wage gains. While individuals below the poverty line would see their family incomes increase by $7.7 billion, families above the poverty line would see a decline of about $16.3 billion, or $8.7 billion more than the benefit for lower income families.
In other words, you raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and American families have less money, brilliant. Even for progressives, a loss of $8.7 billion on a $16.3 billion investment should be viewed as a terrible result – you would think.
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