The report also found that the federal budget deficit would increase by $54 billion from 2021 to 2031 if the $15 minimum wage were enacted. That’s because the government would pay higher prices for goods and services that stem from the higher wages paid to workers, the CBO found.
“There is good reason not to accept CBO’s analysis” that a $15 minimum wage would increase the budget, said Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
“It’s really not a stretch to say that a new consensus has emerged amongst economists that minimum-wage increases have raised wages without substantial job loss,” she said on a call with reporters. (Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shares in these views.)
The CBO’s 1.4-million job loss estimate is likely overstated, hence the federal government would not need to spend more money to fund social welfare programs such as unemployment insurance and medicare if fewer people were unemployed, Shierholz added.
MarketWatch
February 9, 2021
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, among other worker advocates, disputed some of the CBO’s findings, arguing there would be little to no effect on employment and the budget deficit would shrink rather than grow.
USA Today
February 9, 2021
“It’s bad for individuals, it’s bad for human suffering, harms the overall economy and drags this [downturn] out even more,” said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and former chief economist at the Labor Department.
CNBC
February 9, 2021
Last month, an independent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that the legislation would increase wages for almost 32 million Americans, over 20% of the nation’s workforce. This includes roughly a third of all Black workers and a quarter of all Latino workers. Nearly 60% of those who would benefit would be women.
“The Raise the Wage Act of 2021 is not just moral policy, it is also good economics,” Economic Policy Institute economist Ben Zipperer posted on Jan. 26. “This injection of wages will help stimulate the economy and spur greater business activity and job growth.”
Courthouse News Service
February 9, 2021
The minimum wage hike would double the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. It hasn’t risen in 12 years. The Economic Policy Institute calculates the increase would put $3,300 in the pockets of each of 32 million workers—22% of the U.S. workforce.
People's Weekly World
February 9, 2021
In a simple comparison of weekly wages (thus accounting for summers off), the Economic Policy Institute found that, between 2013 and 2017 in the U.S., a public school teacher with a bachelor’s degree earned a weekly average of $980, whereas a comparable non-teaching college graduate earned an average of $1,326 per week. There is clearly a disparity here, especially considering a teacher’s workday is often longer than the typical school day.
UConn Daily Campus
February 9, 2021
The CBO says Medicaid spending would increase, in part, because so many care workers would receive raises.
“We certainly hope they are right, and, since the costs are already accounted for in the cost estimate, we urge state policymakers to hold Medicaid services constant in the face of higher labor costs,” said the Economic Policy Institute in a statement. “The care workforce provides extraordinarily valuable services yet is among the most underpaid in the economy, due largely to historical legacies of racial and gender discrimination. The pay increase this workforce would get under a higher federal minimum wage would be among the most valuable outcomes of making this law.”
Yahoo Finance
February 9, 2021
The left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, among other worker advocates, disputed some of the CBO’s findings, arguing there would be little to no effect on employment and the budget deficit would shrink rather than grow.
USA Today
February 9, 2021
“It’s bad for individuals, it’s bad for human suffering, harms the overall economy and drags this [downturn] out even more,” said Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and former chief economist at the Labor Department.
CNBC
February 9, 2021
Last month, an independent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that the legislation would increase wages for almost 32 million Americans, over 20% of the nation’s workforce. This includes roughly a third of all Black workers and a quarter of all Latino workers. Nearly 60% of those who would benefit would be women.
“The Raise the Wage Act of 2021 is not just moral policy, it is also good economics,” Economic Policy Institute economist Ben Zipperer posted on Jan. 26. “This injection of wages will help stimulate the economy and spur greater business activity and job growth.”
February 9, 2021