---
title: "Congressional Budget Office: Federal $15 Minimum Wage Would Increase Pay for 17 Million Workers"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/fb31c40f-6464-4098-b4ec-7bcf10c43b49
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/congressional-budget-office-federal-15-minimum-wage-would-increase-pay-for-17-million-workers-2710448
category: "Regulation"
topics: ["Regulation & legal","Operations"]
published: 2019-07-08T20:15:25.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:31:46.299Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/e08444ffd8f895f7e351a4e723b323ec3844.jpg
---

# Congressional Budget Office: Federal $15 Minimum Wage Would Increase Pay for 17 Million Workers

**TL;DR:** A new report from the Congressional Budget Office estimates that increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025 would increase pay for 17 million workers. The report also projects that such a wage increase would reduce business income and raise prices, and reduce the nation's output slightly.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2019-07-08. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/congressional-budget-office-federal-15-minimum-wage-would-increase-pay-for-17-million-workers-2710448).*

## Story

According to CNBC, a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025 would increase pay for 17 million workers. CNBC notes that the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009.

The House of Representatives could vote on the Democrat-backed Raise the Wage Act later this month. However, the Republican-held Senate is likely to oppose the legislation, notes CNBC. Opponents claim that a $15 minimum wage would cut positions for low-wage workers due to higher costs for employers. The CBO projects that such job cuts would affect 1.3 million workers and that a wage increase would “reduce business income and raise prices” and “reduce the nation’s output slightly.”

In addition to the 17 million workers currently earning less than $15 per hour, another 10 million people “otherwise earning slightly more” than $15 an hour could also see a wage hike, according to the CBO. Further, 1.3 million Americans would be elevated above the poverty level.

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- General (sector)
- minimum wage (topic)
- Congressional Budget Office (regulator)
- Senate (regulator)
- House of Representatives (regulator)
- federal regulation (topic)
- worker pay (topic)
- poverty level (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/congressional-budget-office-federal-15-minimum-wage-would-increase-pay-for-17-million-workers-2710448). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/fb31c40f-6464-4098-b4ec-7bcf10c43b49).