CBO Finds $15 Minimum Wage Would Cut Poverty but Cost Jobs
Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025 would bring 1.3 million people out of poverty, but approximately the same number would lose their jobs, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. This is the second study to focus on the impact of a $15 minimum wage – as proposed in the Raise the Wage Act – and it contradicts the first, a study released last week by researchers at California Berkeley’s Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics finding that raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would not cause job loss. The CBO report also examines the potential effects of a $10 and $12 minimum wage.