Bernie's Minimum Wage Bill Would Kill 1.7 Million Jobs and Decimate Restaurant Industry, Report...

Socialist Vermont senator Bernie Sanders's proposal to raise the minimum wage to $17 an hour and eliminate the federal tip credit would kill about 1.7 million jobs and ruin restaurants, according to a new report.

The Employment Policies Institute in a July report found that Sanders's wage hike proposal, which the far-left senator introduced on Tuesday, would prompt more than 1.2 million lost jobs nationwide. Sanders's bill also eliminates the tip credit, which allows employers to include some of their workers' tips as part of their wage—that policy would slash another 447,000 jobs, according to the report. Hospitality industry workers would bear 40 percent of the job losses, while 62 percent of the predicted lost jobs are held by women.

Sanders's proposal comes as restaurants and bars recover from pandemic-era closures and sky-high food costs, issues that have forced tens of thousands of eateries nationwide to close. Many restaurant owners say eliminating the tip credit would cause even more chaos. Eighty-five percent of Washington, D.C., restaurant owners, for example, say the policy would force them to lay off workers, according to a recent Employment Policies Institute survey.