<P> Empirical work on fast food workers in the 1990s challenged the neoclassical model . In 1994, economists David Card and Alan Krueger studied employment trends among 410 restaurants in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania following New Jersey's minimum wage hike (from $4.25 to $5.05) in April 1992 . They found "no indication that the rise in the minimum wage reduced employment ." However, a 1995 re-analysis of the evidence by David Neumark found that the increase in New Jersey's minimum wage actually resulted in a 4.6% decrease in employment . Neumark's study relied on payroll records from a sample of large fast - food restaurant chains, whereas the Card - Krueger study relied on business surveys . </P> <P> Additional research conducted by David Neumark and William Wascher (which surveyed over 100 studies related to the employment effects of minimum wages) found that the majority of peer - reviewed economic research (about two - thirds) showed a positive correlation between minimum wage hikes and increased unemployment--especially for young and unskilled workers . Neumark's analysis further found that, when looking at only the most credible research, 85% of studies showed a positive correlation between minimum wage hikes and increased unemployment . </P> <P> In February 2014, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported the theoretical effects of a federal minimum wage increase under two scenarios: an increase to $9.00 and an increase to $10.10 . According to the report, approximately 100,000 jobs would be lost under the $9.00 option, whereas 500,000 jobs would be lost under the $10.10 option (with a wide range of possible outcomes). </P> <P> A 2013 Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) review of multiple studies since 2000 indicated that there was "little or no employment response to modest increases in the minimum wage ." Another CEPR study in 2014 found that job creation within the United States is faster within states that raised their minimum wage . In 2014, the state with the highest minimum wage in the nation, Washington, exceeded the national average for job growth in the United States . </P>

When did the minimum wage go up in 2017