The Congressional Budget Office has just delivered some more bad news for President Obama:
Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 will cut about a half-million jobs out of the economy by 2016, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report Tuesday that could deal a major blow to Democrats’ chief domestic agenda item this year.
President Obama, who has unilaterally raised the minimum wage for new government contract workers, said in his State of the Union address that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would improve the economy. His party is on board: Senate Democrats are pledged to raising the minimum wage to that level, while Democrats in the Republican-controlled House plan to launch a petition drive to bring the matter to the floor.
According to the CBO report, the majority of low-income workers will see a rise in their earnings, but a minority will lose their jobs. The headline on a Washington Post report anticipates what the administration spin likely will be by the evening news:
CBO: Obama’s Minimum Wage Plan Would Cost Jobs but Help Millions
Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 won't help those people who lose their jobs—just as ObamaCare didn't help the many who lost their health insurance. I’m beginning to see a pattern here….
Raising the minimum wage sounds good, but it “is not an effective took against poverty.” It will make it more difficult for struggling, unemployed people to find jobs, and most of the benefits will not go to the very poorest workers.