A $15 Minimum Wage Would Increase Job Losses But Would Also Lessen Poverty
Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour — a proposal supported by President Joe Biden — would result in the loss of 1.4 million jobs, but would bring nearly 1 million people out of poverty over the next four years, a government study released Monday found.
The study, conducted by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), also found that increasing the minimum wage would raise the cumulative budget deficit from 2021 to 2023 by $54 billion and would drive inflation, resulting in higher prices for goods and services.
Once fully implemented, the CBO concluded “17 million workers whose wages would otherwise be below $15 per hour would be directly affected, and many of the 10 million workers whose wages would otherwise be slightly above that wage rate would also be affected.”
