Maryland’s General Assembly passed a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage from $10.10 to $15 per hour by 2025 — and it did so with enough votes to override a likely veto from Governor Larry Hogan, effectively guaranteeing its implementation. In a new insight, AAF’s Director of Labor Market Policy Ben Gitis looks at the job implications for the state.

He finds:

• An increase in Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 per hour could cost 94,600 jobs;
• For perspective, this is equivalent to eliminating nearly 50 percent of projected job growth between 2016 and 2026; and
• Maryland is not in a strong position to absorb this shock, as it continued to experience below-average job growth while the state implemented its previous minimum wage hike from 2014 to 2018.

Read the insight.