Historical experience: every single time in American history that the minimum wage was raised (including it's initial establishment in 1938), employment has gone down significantly. Two major factors contribute to the reduction of employment. First, as the minimum wage rises some jobs cost more than they are worth to the employer. When I was a kid, sweepers and floor cleaners were a ubiquitous feature of retails stores. I haven't seen a floor cleaner for years; now that job is done much less often (and usually less skillfully) by other employees as an adjunct responsibility. Second, as the minimum wage rises some jobs can be economically replaced by automation. For an object lesson in this phenomenon, visit a modern warehouse (such as Amazon's) or a modern shipyard (like Newark or Los Angeles). The number of “muscle” jobs is remarkably small compared to what they were like when I was a kid.
The CBO: operating under bizarre and politically biased rules, even the CBO predicts that raising the minimum wage will cost jobs (though less than experience would suggest).
Obama: raising the minimum wage will cost zero jobs. Their main arguments seem to be that the CBO has no idea what it's talking about, and historical experience is irrelevant – it'll be different this time.
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