State minimum wage increases phasing in around the country will result in 1.8 million job losses with "minimal" increases in workers' salaries, a report from the American Action Forum reports.

According to the center-right group, 22 states and the District of Columbia will implement minimum wage increases this year – but it'll come at a cost of 383,000 job losses.

"The full minimum wage increases over the next several years will cost 1.8 million jobs," policy analysts Ben Gitis and Curtis Arndt contend. "When combined with recent previous minimum wage increases in some of the same states, the total loss comes out to 2.6 million jobs."

"In the end, the additional earnings transferred from the job losers to the job keepers are minimal," and under minimum wage increases, "for each job loss, total wage earnings only rise by $6,900," the report states.

The proposals to raise the minimum wage are "well-intended," the authors write.

However, they argue, "it is important to consider the negative labor market consequences."

Employers usually pay for wage increases by cutting their workforce, raising the price on products, slowing down their hiring, or replacing more productive workers with low-skilled workers, according to the report.

"Unfortunately, it is the lowest-wage, least-skilled workers who pay the largest prices for these consequences," the Forum report contends.