The agency found nearly doubling the federal minimum wage could cost 1.3 million jobs when fully implemented by 2025
Protesters demanding a $15 minimum wage for federal contract workers chant as they march through the cafeteria in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 7, 2016. The House is expected to debate legislation next week that would raise the minimum wage to $15 in six annual increments. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)
The Congressional Budget Office said in a report released Monday that nearly doubling the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour could cost 1.3 million jobs when fully implemented by 2025, though millions would see higher wages and the number of Americans living in poverty would decrease.
The report made clear that its estimate of 1.3 million potential job losses, which would equal roughly 0.8 percent of the workforce, was a median forecast, and that job losses could be substantially smaller — or larger. In a worst-case scenario, some 3.7 million jobs could be lost, the agency said. On the other hand, wages could rise for as many as 27 million workers.