CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE STANDS UP TO OBAMA!

FACT SHEET: President Obama Offers Plan to Destroy Jobs for Low-Income Americans

Posted by Brendan Buck | March 5, 2014 | Permalink

Today, the president will travel to New Britain, Connecticut to press his case for a plan that will destroy up to one million American jobs. At Central Connecticut State University, he will call on Congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, something non-partisan economists have consistently said will have a negative impact on employment, particularly for low-wage workers. While the president will undoubtedly tout the up-side of a minimum wage increase, there are some inconvenient facts that the White House doesn’t like to acknowledge. That’s because, in short, this plan is a job killer. Congressional Budget Office Says Plan Will Destroy 500,000 jobs. A recent analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the president’s plan to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would cost the economy up to 1,000,000 jobs, with a median estimate of 500,000 jobs lost. While helping some, many who need work the most “would be jobless— either because they lost a job or because they could not find a job — as a result of the increase in the minimum wage,” the CBO found. Obama-Appointed Chair of the Federal Reserve Backs up CBO Analysis. The president’s choice to head the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, recently endorsed the work of the CBO. Saying the economists at the CBO are “as qualified as anyone to evaluate” the issue, she noted that “almost all economists” agree “there would be some amount of negative impact on employment.” CBO Director Stood Firm in Face of White House Attacks. In response to extraordinary criticism of CBO’s work by the White House, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, a former Clinton White House aide, noted that their “balanced reading” on the issue is “completely consistent with the latest thinking in the economic profession.” CBO findings consistent with large majority of other research. The White House response to clear evidence of the negative effects of a minimum wage increase has been to deny the existence of such research. However, labor economists David Neumark and William Wascher surveyed more than 100 academic studies on the minimum wage and its effect on employment. They found that two-thirds of researchers reported a negative effect on employment resulting from a minimum wage hike, consistent with the conclusions reached by the Congressional Budget Office.