Paying fast-food restaurant employees $15 an hour could lead to an estimated 4.3 percent increase in prices at those businesses, a new study shows.
Researchers also examined the impact of limited-service (fast food) restaurants offering health-care benefits and found that, due to current tax credits in the Affordable Care Act, there would be a minimal effect on prices at limited-service restaurants with fewer than 25 full-time employees.
The study says increasing wages to $22 an hour, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics says is what the average American private industry employee makes, would cause a 25 percent increase in prices.
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Some states and cities across the United States, including Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio, have raised the minimum wage to more than $8 an hour. In the past two years, fast-food workers across the nation have gone on strike or had demonstrations calling for (living) wages to be increased to $15 per hour, the study says.
