A new study from the Economic Policy Institute says hiking the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would boost the economy so much that it would add 85,000 new jobs to the economy.
The Huffington Post breaks down the analysis, which finds raising the minimum wage would pump about $22 billion into the economy as low-wage workers would spend their increased wages. That economic growth would ultimately create those new jobs.
The analysis is an update to a similar report released by EPI earlier this year. It takes into account the fact that five states recently raised their minimum wage, meaning workers living in those states would feel less of an impact from a federal minimum wage boost than when EPI published the original research in March.
“A lot of states and even a lot of municipalities have all boosted their minimum wages out of a recognition that the federal minimum wage is just too low,” David Cooper, an economic analyst with EPI and the author of the report told The Huffington Post. “Because Congressional action is so hard to come by these days, they’re not going to wait.”
