County council member Marc Elrich introduced a new bill to bring the hourly minimum wage up from the current $11.50 to $15.
However, it is believed that Montgomery County would lose approximately 47,000 jobs by 2022 if it raises the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The vast majority of jobs lost would be low-wage positions.
Philadelphia-based economic consulting group, PFM, found that increasing the minimum wage to $15 would result in an aggregate loss of $396.5 million of income in the county by 2022 as businesses laid off employees, cut remaining employee hours and benefits, and suspended plans to invest in new locations and hire additional workers.We can’t minimize some of the impacts outlined here,” said Leggett, who explained his decision to veto the earlier bill by saying he was worried that the wage hike would hurt the county’s economy. “Even if it’s not 47,000 jobs lost, even if it’s half that, those are some startling numbers. You can’t discount it all.”Elrich — one of three council incumbents running to succeed Leggett, who will retire after 2018 — said last week that the PFM study was “nonsense” because it is not possible to project the future impact of a wage increase. He said asking employers about the potential effect of a wage increase was certain to produce negative responses.
A study by economists at the University of Washington in June found that raising the hourly minimum wage to $15 cost low-wage workers in Seattle $125 a month because employers reduced hours and let workers go.
[caption id="attachment_3317" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) vetoed an increase to the minimum wage.[/caption]
A different study from the University of California at Berkeley found no job losses for low-income Seattle restaurant workers when their wages increased to $13 an hour.
Montgomery responders to a recent study estimated they would have to reduce their lower-wage workforce by an average of 23 percent if the minimum wage reached $15. Employers said they can attract and retain quality lower-wage workers with pay of about $11 an hour, suggesting that the county’s existing $11.50 minimum is “reflective of the market” and “not likely to cause substantial disruption if left in place.”
PFM based its study on electronic surveys and phone and in-person interviews with business owners, business community leaders, and nonprofit employers and leaders. The group conducted the surveys and interviews from April through June.
