New Research Finds 770,000 Jobs Lost at Hillary Clinton’s Proposed $12 Minimum Wage

Economists find average household income of those affected by a $12 mandate is $55,800
  • Publication Date: November 2015

  • Topics: Minimum Wage

Washington D.C. – In advance of this weekend’s Democratic debate, the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) releasednew research by economists William Even of Miami University and David Macpherson of Trinity University regarding the effects of a $12 federal minimum wage. Applying the same methodology that the Congressional Budget Office used last year to find that a $10.10 minimum wage would cost 500,000 jobs, the economists conclude that a $12 minimum wage would cost 770,000 jobs.

Presidential primary candidate Hillary Clinton supports a 66 percent increase in the federal minimum wage to $12dollars an hour. Clinton is likely to reiterate her support at tomorrow’s Democratic presidential primary debate in Des Moines.

Using Current Population Survey (CPS) data, the economists estimated the number of jobs lost from a $12 minimum wage in each state, which range from 558 jobs in Vermont to 46,000 in Florida. View a table with the number of jobs lost by state here.

CPS data shows that roughly 60 percent of those affected by a $12 mandate are secondary or tertiary earners in their families. The average household income of those affected by the proposed wage hike is $55,800. Only 9 percent of those affected are single parents.

View the full report here.

“While Hillary Clinton claims to be a champion of the middle class, her support for a $12 minimum wage would have a disproportionately negative impact on employees in middle income families,” said Michael Saltsman, research director at the Employment Policies Institute. “This analysis shows that a $12 minimum wage is poorly targeted and would hurt the very people that Clinton intends to help.”