This week marks the fifth anniversary of the 2009 federal minimum wage increase to $7.25, and the network of labor unions and advocacy groups who are promoting another one aren’t wasting the occasion.
But in their campaign to promote the supposed benefits of a wage hike, they’ve left out any discussion of the costs. Research from economists at Miami and Trinity Universities found that over 114,000 fewer teens were employed as a consequence of the last wage hike. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that anywhere from a half-million to one million jobs will be lost if the minimum wage rises again to $10.10.
In an earlier analysis, EPI found that 57 percent of the jobs lost due to that increase in the federal minimum wage would be held by women. In a new analysis following the same methodology, EPI finds that over one-fifth of the jobs lost due to a $10.10 minimum wage will be held by Hispanics. This results is particularly troubling because the unemployment rate among young Hispanic jobseekers is still averaging 25 percent.
As part of an effort to educate the public on the consequences of a higher minimum wage, EPI is airing a Spanish language version of its “Disappearing Jobs” commercial this week on Telemundo and Univision.