Cost of Democrats’ Minimum-Wage Hike: Up to 768,000 Jobs

THE STATE-ISTS/LIBERALS/SOCIALISTS  WANT TO DICTATE WHO PAYS WHAT AS WAGES... SO FEWER WORKERS WILL BE HIRED  THEN THEY WILL GIVE WAIVERS TO ALL THE CRONY CAPITALISTS WHO GET THEM ELECTED  LIKE THEY DID WITH OBAMA CARE.... and make the Regular small businesses carry the burden...ALL IN AN EFFORT TO KILL CAPITALISM AND HAVE MOSTLY STATE RUN BUSINESSES

... Cost of Democrats’ Minimum-Wage Hike: Up to 768,000 Jobs

The Democratic Party’s 2012 platform calls for raising the minimum wage and pegging it to inflation — and a wage bill already introduced by congressional Democrats could cost at least 256,000 jobs, according to a new report.

Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut have proposed raising the federal minimum wage in three stages to $9.80 per hour — an increase of 35 percent over the current level — and then annually raising the wage based on inflation.

The bill also stipulates that employers should pay 70 percent of the full minimum to workers who receive tip income, an increase of 200 percent.

“Earlier studies have projected at least 467,000 lost jobs following a wage hike of this magnitude,” according to the report from the Employment Policies Institute (EPI).

“Accounting for the smaller labor force post-recession, job losses in the range of 256,000 to 768,000 are projected based on results found in earlier economic literature.”

The EPI is a nonprofit research organization focusing on employment growth, with a special emphasis on issues that affect entry-level employment.

The report points to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicating that of the employees working at or near the current minimum wage of $7.25, nearly 50 percent are under age 25.

They also work mostly in service occupations — 43 percent work in food preparation and serving occupations, where profit margins are low.

When businesses hiring young employees “can’t offset the rising labor costs with higher prices, they have to figure out how to do more with less,” the report states.

“The result is a loss of hours, employment, or both.”

Among teens, the unemployment rate is already 23.8 percent nationwide.

The EPI cites a study showing that in addition to reducing employment, minimum wage increases are poorly targeted to families in poverty.

Nearly 60 percent of minimum wage earners are either living at home with parents or other relatives, or have a spouse who also works. Less than 10 percent are single parents with children.

“The Democratic Party still refuses to acknowledge that wage hikes kill job opportunities,” said Michael Saltsman, research fellow at EPI.

“As the election season heats up, the Democratic Party should not lose its focus on finding policies that increase job opportunities instead of reduce them.”