$10.10 Minimum Wage Could Cause Businesses To Lay Off One Million, Says CBO

A $10 minimum wage would cause 38 percent of small businesses to let some of their employees go according to a new poll. But the CBO estimates are far worse than other predictions.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, Bill Gates agrees, saying a minimum wage increase would kill jobs:

“When people say we should raise the minimum wage, I think … I know some economists would disagree, but I think boy, I worry about what that does to job creation…. You have to be a bit careful that if you raise the minimum wage, you’re encouraging labor substitution. You’re going to go buying machines and automate things — or cause jobs to appear outside of that jurisdiction. And so within certain limits, you know, it does cause job destruction.”

When Express Employment Professionals surveyed 1,213 businesses they also found out that 44 percent planned on reducing hiring if the minimum wage was raised significantly above the current $7.25. Another 65 percent said they would instead consider raising the prices on goods and services in order to compensate for their increase in business cost.

The Congressional Budget Office also agrees with this assessment, saying that if a plan for implementing a $10.10 Federal minimum wage in 2016 were to occur then they estimate about half a million jobs would be lost by the end of the year. There’s also a 70 percent chance that the increase in the unemployed would be as high as one million, which would raise the unemployment rate by a large amount.

Senator Rand Paul says that while those seeking a higher Federal minimum wage may have good intentions the economic impact would hit black and Hispanic millennials the hardest:

“If you want to hurt the most disadvantaged in our country, raise the minimum wage. I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

But recently President Obama and the Democrats have made the $10.10 minimum wage a 2014 mid-term elections issue:

“It is time to give America a raise or elect more Democrats who will do it…. “It is a virtuous cycle that we can create.”

Do you think a $10.10 Federal minimum wage is a good idea or do you think a lower amount is reasonable?