Wall Street Journal (02/18/14) Eric Morath; Damian Paletta; Carol E. Lee

Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would eliminate 500,000 jobs by 2016, according to the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, but would increase pay for millions of employees and lift 900,000 from poverty. Nineteen percent of the increased wages would go to those beneath the poverty line, and about 30% would go to households earning three times the poverty threshold.

The earnings of low-wage workers would rise by $31 billion, while the net increase after job losses would equal $2 billion. About 3.6 million U.S. workers, or 4.7% of hourly workers, earned the minimum wage or less in 2012.