CBO Report: Minimum Wage Hike could cost as many as 500,000 Jobs

President Obama's call to raise the federal minimum wage could help lift 900,000 workers out of poverty, but at a cost of as many as 500,000 jobs, according to an analysis released today by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. 

The White House and congressional Democrats--who are seeking to make a federal minimum wage hike a top issue in the 2014 elections--took issue with the politically sensitive report and said CBO's findings are inconsistent with the prevailing view among economists that raising the minimum wage does not impact employment.

"Zero is a perfectly reasonable estimate of the impact of the minimum wage on employment ," countered Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman in a conference call with reporters in response to the CBO report. 

Obama initially called on Congress to raise the $7.25 hourly minimum wage to $9, but he has since rallied with leading Senate Democrats who are pushing for a $10.10 increase. The Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to vote on a wage increase in March, but it is unlikely to get a vote in the GOP-controlled House.

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