Biden’s Minimum Wage Exaggeration
President Joe Biden overstated the impact of raising the federal minimum wage to $15, claiming that “if you’re making less than $15 an hour,” and working 40 hours a week, “you’re living below the poverty wage.” Not everyone earning less than that would be below the federal poverty guidelines or lifted above the guidelines with $15-an-hour pay.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 17 million workers would be “directly affected” by increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025 — those workers would otherwise earn less than that. But the number in poverty would decline by 900,000.
