A study revealed that California's plan to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2023 would result in a loss of 400,000 private sector jobs, according to a Fox Business report.
The Economic Policy Institute study looked at employment trends from 1990 through 2017, and found that each 10-percent increase in California resulted in a 2-percent decline in jobs for minimum-wage employees, with lower-paid workers losing jobs at a 5 percent rate.
The institute predicted the 400,000-job loss would include large losses in food service and retail, according to Fox Business.
The report said "rising minimum wage has depressed employment opportunities in the most heavily-impacted industries," according to Fox Business.
California's minimum wage will increase to $11 per hour on Jan. 1, 2018 for employees with 26 or more employees, with a $1-dollar increase each year until 2023. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees will reach the $15 per year wage in 2023, according to a government document.
Conservative lobbying groups are preparing to prevent an increase to the minimum wage in case the Senate flips to Democrat control in 2018, according to The Intercept.
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