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(Maryland News Connection) A new report shows minimum wage increases have had little effect on the number of jobs nationwide.

While the rhetoric around increasing the minimum wage often comes with the caution it will reduce low-wage employment, a new review of decades of research showed most studies found no job losses after the state or local minimum wage is raised.

Ben Zipperer, senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute and the review's co-author, said raising the minimum wage has unquestionably benefited workers.

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"Minimum wages very consistently have ended up raising the incomes of low-wage workers," Zipperer pointed out. "They have done so in a way that doesn't cause any big negative employment shocks or big disruptions in their local economy."

In Maryland, the state minimum wage increased to $15 an hour Jan. 1. The minimum wage in Montgomery County increased July 1 to $17.15 for large employers, and $15.50 for mid-size employers.

The latest numbers in Maryland show the state's job growth rate increased 1.2 percent in the first seven months of this year, exceeding the national average. The state's labor force participation rate also increased to 65.5 percent, the highest number since September 2020.

Zipperer noted the studies showed raising minimum wages has other benefits.

"What does happen is that employee turnover falls dramatically and that's because the job is suddenly more attractive to workers when you pay them more," Zipperer emphasized. "That's one of the reasons why you don't actually see big falls in employment after a minimum wage increase."

He added minimum wages are one of the most well studied topics in economics. Researchers built an online repository of studies going back to 1992, and will add new studies as they are published.