Report: Minimum Wage Hikes Don’t Lead to Job Losses

Eric Galatas | Colorado News Connection

As the city of Boulder considers raising its minimum wage on Oct. 10, a new report suggested the move would have little or no impact on job loss.

Ben Zipperer, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute and the report’s author, said workers earning the minimum wage are disproportionately women and people of color, not teenagers. He explained the data show efforts to raise the wage floor brings real benefits for workers.

“They have done so in a way that doesn’t cause any big negative employment shocks or big disruptions in the local economy,” Zipperer reported. “Minimum wages have largely been successful in their primary aim of making it easier for low-wage workers to make ends meet.”

Colorado’s current minimum wage is $14.42 an hour. Boulder is considering an increase of up to $16.58 in 2025. According to Economic Policy Institute estimates, a Boulder County family of four with two full-time working adults needs at least $26 an hour to cover basic expenses. Some business owners have opposed raising wages, saying the move would put them out of business.

Zipperer emphasized most of the “scare stories” he hears about minimum-wage hikes are more hypothetical than reality. Any increased labor costs are blunted by a number of factors. For example, higher wages lead to less staff turnover, which means increased productivity and fewer dollars spent on recruitment and training. It has been 15 years since Congress raised the federal 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,” argued 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 “They’re earning much less than they would, were we to actually have an updated minimum wage, rather than the outdated minimum-wage standard that we have today.”

The report estimated the actual value of the federal minimum wage adjusted for inflation over the past 15 years has fallen by 29%, to $5.15 an hour. Vice President Kamala Harris has floated the idea of raising the federal minimum wage but by how much is yet to be determined.