ECONOMY - Debating Boosting the Minimum Wage

Humm.... Lets see:

• +900,000 people out of poverty
• +16,000,000 people get a raise
• -500,000 jobs lost
• Total:  +16,400,000

Note, this points out the problem of using terms like "half-a-million" rather than numbers.

"CBO report fuels debate on costs and benefits of boosting the minimum wage" PBS Newshour 2/19/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour):  The Congressional Budget Office, by definition, is considered a nonpartisan agency.  But the report it released yesterday about the effects of raising the minimum wage was seized upon by both sides of the debate.

Among its findings:  If the minimum wage were raised to $10.10 an hour, it could eliminate half-a-million jobs, but it would also lift 900,000 families out of poverty and raise incomes for more than 16 million people.  The report noted there could be significant variation in the numbers.

We join the debate with Thea Lee.  She’s the deputy chief of staff at the AFL-CIO.  And David Neumark is an economist at the University of California, Irvine.  He’s done extensive work on this subject.