The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that a $15.00 minimum wage will;

• Boost the wages of approximately 17 million workers
• Possibly improve the wages of 10 million workers earning slightly more than the minimum wages
• Lift 900,000 people out of poverty
• Cause 1.4 million workers to lose their jobs
• Young, less educated people would account for a disproportionate share of the lost jobs.

Not mentioned in the CBO report was;

• The law is structurally discriminatory. African Americans and Hispanics make up a disproportionately high portion of the “Young, less educated people” that will lose their jobs.
• Minimum wage laws have always been structurally racist. The first minimum wages laws were used to protect white workers from competition from ethnic groups willing to work for lower wages.
• Most minimum-wage employers are small businesses. Their profit margins are too small to absorb large wage increases.
• The negative impact of a minimum wage law will be harshest on businesses where the cost of living is low. More businesses in areas like Yuba City where the average wage is $25.06 an hour will be forced to close than in areas like San Jose – Sunnyvale – Santa Clara area where the average wage is $40.37 per hour.
• 330 Million Americans will experience an increased cost of living.
• The impact of a higher cost of living is far worse for low and middle income families than it is for more affluent families. The higher cost has little impact on the ability of affluent families to save, invest and build their income and wealth.
• A family in Yuba City, where the average 3 bedroom home rents for $1,606 per month, doesn’t require the same income as a family in San Francisco where the average 3 bedroom home rents is $4,567 per month. A 3 bedroom home in Belzoni Mississippi rents for $851 per month. A law that mandates the same minimum wage in every area of the country doesn’t make sense.