Eighteen states rang in 2019 with minimum wage increases — some that will ultimately rise as high as $15 an hour — and so far, opponents’ dire predictions of job losses have not come true. From a report: The data paint a clear picture: Higher minimum wage requirements haven’t reduced hiring in low-wage industries or overall. Opponents have long argued that raising the minimum wage will cause workers to lose their jobs and prompt fast food chains (and other stores) to raise prices. But job losses and price hikes haven’t been pronounced in the aftermath of a recent wave of city and state wage-boost laws. And more economists are arguing that the link between minimum wage hikes and job losses was more hype than science. What we’re hearing: “The minimum wage increase is not showing the detrimental effects people once would’ve predicted,” Diane Swonk, chief economist at international accounting firm Grant Thornton, tells Axios. “A lot of what we’re seeing in politics is old economic ideology, not what economics is telling us today.”

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Source: Slashdot – Job Loss Predictions Over Rising Minimum Wages Haven’t Come True