Raising minimum wage to $15 would cost 1.4 million jobs, CBO says

Raising minimum wage to $15 would cost 1.4 million jobs, CBO says

People line up to receive free holiday boxes of food from the Food Bank For New York City ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, as the global outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, U.S., November 16, 2020.

Along with the reduction in employment, the federal budget deficit would increase by $54 billion over the next 10 years, a fairly negligible level considering the fiscal 2020 shortfall totaled more than $3 trillion.

The CBO report estimates that the employment reduction would happen by 2025 and come as employers cut payroll to compensate for the increased costs.

Biden has acknowledged that the plan to phase in the new federal wage floor likely won't make it through the $1.9 trillion spending plan he is pushing through Congress, though he remains committed to the increase.

The number has been disputed by employment advocates who cite the benefits from the raise and say businesses will be able to handle the costs.

The impact on the employment rolls is slightly higher than the 1.3 million employment estimate from a 2019 report from the CBO, an agency that provides budgetary analysis to Congress.

Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, as President Joe Biden