 |
|
|
Something new in your business? Click here to submit your business press release Chamber Corner | Main Street News | Job Hunt | Classifieds | Calendar | Illinois Lottery |
|
|
CBO sees job losses, rising incomes with minimum wage increase
[February 19, 2014]
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10, as President
Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress are proposing,
could result in about 500,000 jobs being lost by late
2016, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated on
Tuesday. The nonpartisan CBO also said that increasing the hourly wage could reduce U.S. budget deficits by a small amount for several years, but then increase them slightly in later years. |
|
The current minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Democrats who control the U.S. Senate could try to advance
minimum wage legislation as early as next month. The CBO report, which also looked at the impact of raising the
minimum wage to $9 an hour instead of $10.10, said either step
would lift many out of poverty. A $10.10 minimum wage would bring 900,000 people above the
poverty threshold of $24,100 a year for a family of four. That
figure would be 300,000 people under a $9 minimum wage, CBO
said. Families in poverty would see a total $5 billion increase in
real income at $10.10 and $1 billion under a $9 wage, CBO
estimated. Altogether, 16.5 million workers would see their earnings rise
with a $10.10 wage, while 7.6 million would benefit with a $9
wage, according to the CBO report. (Reporting by Richard Cowan; editing by Sandra Maler) [© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.] Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
