Hurting the 0.3% -- Review & Outlook, The Wall Street Journal

CBO says a $10.10 minimum wage could cost 500,000 jobs. 

White House economic policy can be more than a little confusing these days. Among its novel claims of late have been that paying people longer not to work is a jobs stimulus, and that ObamaCare's incentives not to work are a virtue. Now comes news that a higher minimum wage is splendid even if it throws half a million poor people out of work.

The job loss news comes courtesy of the Congressional Budget Office, which on Tuesday retained some intellectual respectability by reporting what every economist already knows, which is that artificially high wage floors cost jobs. The Democratic-run budget shop examined Democratic proposals to raise the minimum wage to $9 or $10.10, and it found that they would both price some Americans out of the workforce.

CBO estimated that President Obama's latest proposal—$10.10 by 2016 from $7.25 today—could cost half a million Americans their jobs as "some jobs for low-wage workers would probably be eliminated, the income of most workers who became jobless would fall substantially, and the share of low-wage workers who were employed would probably fall slightly." 

A wage of $0 an hour doesn't sound good, especially for the poor. But the White House rolled out chief economist Jason Furman to point out that the report overall was good news. "CBO's central estimate" is that the $10.10 minimum would "lead to a 0.3% decrease in employment," said Mr. Furman, who deserves a raise for having to make these arguments. "And CBO acknowledges that the employment impact could be essentially zero." Yes, but CBO also says that it could be as high as one million; the 500,000 figure splits the difference.

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