Edwin J. Viera, Public News Service
A new study found minimum wage increases have little or no impact on job loss.
The Economic Policy Institute study comes as federal lawmakers consider raising the minimum wage. The New York Legislature considered a bill to raise the state’s $15 hourly minimum wage over the next three years and index it to match inflation. The bill never made it out of committee.
Ben Zipperer, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute and the report’s author, said minimum wage has consistently raised low-wage workers’ income.
“They have done so in a way that doesn’t cause any big negative employment shocks or big disruptions in the local economy,” Zipperer explained. “Minimum wages have largely been successful in their primary aim of making it easier for low-wage workers to make ends meet.”
New York’s minimum wage bill would have raised the pay of about 3 million workers statewide by more than $3,000 a year. Zipperer pointed out earlier research using outdated methods is part of the reason raising the minimum wage has become so controversial. The report showed some of the smaller effects of an increase are declines in employee turnover, because jobs paying more are more attractive to workers.
Vice President Kamala Harris is floating the idea of raising the federal minimum wage but by how much is yet to be determined. It’s been 15 years since Congress last raised the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. Zipperer argued not raising it harms workers.
“That’s really putting downward pressure on a lot of low-wage workers’ wages,” Zipperer pointed out. “They’re earning much less than they would, were we to actually have an updated minimum wage, rather than the outdated minimum wage standard that we have today.”
He added most of the “scare stories” he hears about minimum wage are more hypothetical than reality. He noted while it is more expensive to hire workers, being able to retain them actually saves employers money. The study showed due to inflation, the federal minimum wage value has fallen 29% since the last time it increased.