Jobs: $15 wage could raise unemployment, deficit

The Congressional Budget Office said that raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour could “lift 900,000 people out of poverty and raise income for 17 million people,” said Eli Rosenberg in The Washington Post, but also cost 1.4 million jobs over the next four years. The nonpartisan CBO’s report this week could “animate the debate over whether to include raising the federal minimum wage” in the next Covid relief bill. The study also found that such an increase in the minimum wage would indirectly raise the deficit by $54 billion over a decade, making it harder to pass under the Senate’s complex rules.

Autos: Chip shortage keeps plants shut

General Motors had to extend its shutdown of three assembly plants idled by a global microchip shortage that has snarled the auto industry, said Michael Wayland in CNBC.com. The plants, in Kansas, Canada, and Mexico, will be halted until mid-March to conserve resources for the company’s “most popular products,” pickups and SUVs. The semiconductor backlog began last year, driven by overwhelming pandemic demand for consumer electronics. Ford said the shortage “could lower its earnings by $1 billion to $2.5 billion this year.”

Airlines: Delta opposes Covid tests for passengers

The chief executive of Delta Airlines called mandatory Covid testing for domestic flights a “horrible idea,” said Dawn Gilbertson in USA Today. Ed Bastian this week “joined the chorus of travel-industry executives coming out strongly against” a proposal being considered by the CDC. Bastian said that mandatory testing would slow the travel industry’s recovery and that delays in processing results would create a “logistical nightmare.” New Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that passenger testing was still on the table, and that making air travel “safer, in terms of perception and reality,” would encourage more people to fly.

Reversals: TikTok owner will keep U.S. unit

TikTok has shelved a plan to sell its U.S. operations to Oracle and Walmart, said John McKinnon and Alex Leary in The Wall Street Journal. The effort to ban the popular social-media app, owned by China’s ByteDance, or force its sale to American operators was “driven by then–President Trump,” who said TikTok was a threat to national security. But the deal “has languished since last fall in the midst of successful legal challenges to the U.S. government.” The Biden White House is “determining its own response to the potential security risk posed by Chinese tech companies’ collecting of data.”