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Would paying employees a higher wage force job cuts? As Matt Galka tells us, a new study shows the opposite.

To raise or not to raise the minimum wage? Opponents say upping wages would result in lost jobs, but government watchdog group Integrity Florida says not so fast.

“We wanted to take an objective look at the claim made by some that an increase in the minimum wage means employers would cut jobs. In short, our research found no evidence that claim is true,” said Ben Wilcox, co-author of the group’s wage report.

The group took federal Department of Labor statistics from every state in the country.  The conclusion: the states that upped pay faired better than those that didn’t when it came to creating jobs.

“In the 25 states plus the District of Columbia where the minimum wage has increased since January 1 2014, job growth has actually been higher than in states where the rate did not go up,” said Wilcox.

Florida, which has pays 80 cents more than the federal minimum wage, saw job growth of more than 5 percent over the course of the study.

There is a ballot initiative for the 2016 election in Florida to raise the minimum wage. Integrity Florida’s study didn’t examine potential outcomes if that were to happen, or if the minimum wage went even higher.

“The ones that raised the rate the most had the most job growth interestingly, now 15 dollars or 13 dollars or whatever, this report did not address,” said Alan Stonecipher, who also co-authored the report.

West Virginia was the only state that raised the minimum wage and didn’t see employment gains.  Integrity Florida says their report was funded through their own reserves, not anyone with any interest in raising the minimum wage. They also didn’t take a position on weather pay should go up.

Local governments in Florida are not allowed to pass their own minimum wage ordinances.