For most of us, a tough question sounds like "Where do you see yourself in five years?" or "Why is your child eating peanut butter off the floor?" But for Warren Buffett—a man who's fielded questions about billions, bailouts, and Berkshire—his hardest question had nothing to do with stocks.
It was about the minimum wage.
In a 2015 CNN interview with Poppy Harlow, Buffett was asked if the federal minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 an hour. Harlow didn't tiptoe into it—she reminded him he'd already called it the most difficult question he'd ever been asked.
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"Last year when I asked you, Warren, if the federal minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 an hour, you said: ‘That is the toughest question you could ask me, because I've been thinking about it for 50 years, and I don't know the answer.'"
When pressed again, Buffett acknowledged the dilemma hadn't gotten any easier. "I'd like to see everybody make $20 an hour at a minimum," he said, but quickly added, "I know if you increase it to $20 an hour, you'd have millions of people unemployed. I don't know how to calibrate it precisely."
A decade later, it's clear the country doesn't either. The federal minimum wage hasn't budged, and the same economic tension Buffett described—between higher pay and potential job loss—still keeps policymakers in a holding pattern. Even now, the "toughest question" remains unanswered.
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What Happens When You Raise Minimum Wage?
Buffett isn't alone in wrestling with this. The economic debate over minimum wage is decades deep, and not without its contradictions.
Studies from the Congressional Budget Office and economists across the political spectrum suggest that modest increases in the minimum wage can lift incomes and reduce poverty—but may also lead to some job losses, particularly among young or low-skilled workers. The bigger the hike, the higher the risk.
Cities like Seattle and San Francisco have raised their minimum wages well above the federal level and early research has shown mixed results. Some workers earned more. Others saw hours cut. In industries with tight margins—like restaurants and retail—businesses have had to adjust, and not all managed to stay afloat. It's exactly the kind of tradeoff Buffett worries about. "You do lose some employment as you increase the minimum wage," he said. "If you didn't, I would be for having it $15 an hour." The reality, he suggests, is that there's no one-size-fits-all solution—just difficult compromises between helping workers and protecting jobs.
Buffett's Fix Puts Less Pressure on Employers, More Help from Government
Buffett believes there's a better tool in the policy toolkit: the earned income tax credit. It's a refundable tax credit that boosts the income of low-to-moderate earners, without placing the full cost on employers.
"I personally believe that the earned income tax credit is a much better way of handling the problem of people who are really not paid enough to live decently," Buffett explained. In 2013, the EITC delivered over $56 billion in aid. Buffett thinks it should go even further—expanded and "done smarter."
It's a solution designed to lift up workers without risking jobs. But unlike wage hikes, the earned income tax credit depends on political will, budget priorities—and it often flies under the radar. Many workers who qualify never even claim it.
Buffett's honesty on this is rare. After 50 years of watching markets, reading economic data, and weighing the trade-offs, he's still torn.
"I don't know if more people will be better off," he admitted. And that's coming from a man who's made a living betting big on long-term outcomes. But maybe that's the point: when even Warren Buffett hesitates to take a side, it's probably not a black-and-white issue.
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