The truth: economists say raising the federal minimum to $10.10 would lift somewhere between 4.6 and 6 million households above the poverty line.
By Joe Conason / AlterNet
In the midst of a crucial political debate that plainly favored proponents of a higher minimum wage, the Congressional Budget Office dropped a bombshell headline this week. Increasing the minimum to $10.10 an hour — as demanded by President Barack Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill — would "cost 500,000 jobs." At a moment when employment still lags badly, this assertion was potentially devastating.
Almost lost in much of the predictable media coverage was the CBO report's estimate that a minimum-wage increase would lift at least 900,000 workers and their families out of poverty — and boost incomes for at least 15 million more.
But as top economists have repeatedly pointed out, such damning employment numbers are fuzzy and unreliable, while the CBO poverty numbers probably underestimated the positive impact of a higher minimum.
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