The pros and cons of a $15 minimum wage

A Congressional Budget Office analysis released last week "makes clear that the benefits of a $15-an-hour minimum wage would heavily outweigh the downside," said Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times. The agency found that as many as 1.3 million people could be lifted out of poverty if the federal minimum wage rose from $7.25 in stages over five years, boosting the wages of 27 million Americans. The CBO said the change might also lead to the loss of 1.3 million jobs. Opponents have seized on that point, but the agency acknowledges it is "manifestly more uncertain than most of the rest" of the analysis.