By Randy LoBasso

– Senator Pat Toomey joined his Republican colleagues in the U.S. Senate today to block a bill which would have increased the minimum wage. After doing so, Toomey, a senator from Pennsylvania, released a statement estimating that if the bill had been successful, “hundreds of thousands” of Americans would have lost their jobs.

“I do not support government policy that puts hundreds of thousands of people out of work,” Toomey said. Specifically, he estimated a loss of 118,000 Pennsylvania jobs.

The bill, which came six votes short of blocking a filibuster threat by Republicans, would have raised the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. It is currently at $7.25.

Minimum wage hikes, business interests and Republicans often argue, hurt business owners who, in turn, are either not be able to hire as many workers or, perhaps, fire existing workers. This sort of thinking has been projected by national groups, like the National Federation of Independent Business Research Foundation, to estimate that up to 119,000 jobs could be lost if the wage was raised to just $9 per hour, as President Obama proposed last year. The Congressional Budget Office actually estimated the loss of 500,000 jobs if a $10.10 minimum wage was put in place. But projections and reality differ greatly on this issue.

As noted earlier this year by labor economist Mark Price of the Keystone Research Center, the minimum wage has not only fallen over the last 46 years, but it has failed to keep up with productivity—so we’re working more than we used to, and making less. If the wage kept up with inflation since 1978 (which was proposed, but obviously did not happen), it would be at $10.75 per hour; if it kept up with productivity, it would be at $17.10 per hour, according to the Center for Economic Policy and Research.

As per an estimate at the Economic Policy Institute, raising the federal minimum wage would actually boost job growth (more money in the hands of workers means more spending power, and potentially less reliance on federal assistance to live.

“David Cooper [of the Economic Policy Institute] estimates that, over the course of its full three-year period, a minimum-wage increase to $10.10 per hour would create 140,000 jobs nationally and 5,000 jobs in Pennsylvania,” Price told the House Democratic Policy Committee in January.

Research done by left-leaning organizations, like the Center for American Progress, have found similar results: That raising the minimum wage may actually create, not kill, jobs.

But for the time being, it’s not going to matter all that much. The minimum wage is a popular issue among voters, and Republicans will likely try to block it from raising no matter where it’s tried. That’s partly the reason why Pennsylvania’s minimum is the same as the federal minimum: Our legislature is run by the GOP. Democrats are very likely bringing this issue up now knowing it’ll fail, and they’ll be able to use it as a long-term strategy to get the voters to the polls.

Everyone running for governor and lieutenant governor on the Democratic side in Pennsylvania this year favors hiking the wage, so short of any Republican hearts growing three sizes on Christmas this year, we’re probably going to have to wait until 2015 (at least) to see a real wage hike.

Source: http://blogs.philadelphiaweekly.com/phillynow/2014/04/30/toomey-helps-fellow-republicans-block-minimum-wage-bill/