The president wants to change the rules on when workers are eligible for overtime pay. And as with attempts to increase the minimum wage, he wrongly assumes that government can increase worker income by fiat where there is no corresponding increase in economic output.

The Fair Labor Standards Act mandates that hourly wage earners be paid time-and-a-half when they work more than 40 hours in a regular work week. The act exempts salaried and some hourly workers — managers, executives, administrative staff and professionals — from receiving overtime if they meet narrowly defined criteria and are paid at least $455 a week. That’s $23,660 a year.

The criteria, including the wage levels, are set by Department of Labor regulations. The president wants to increase the minimum salary to $970 per week, or $50,440. The president also proposes mechanisms that would increase that minimum automatically over time.

The administration said as many as 5 million U.S. workers will become eligible for overtime under the rule, and will collectively receive more than $1.2 billion in extra earnings.

“It’s one of the single most important steps we can take to help grow middle-class wages,” the president said.

A lobster in every pot, and a unicorn in every garage. While it makes a great headline, unless the president is writing checks he can’t guarantee anyone a pay raise.

The operative word in all of this is “eligible.”

Though many politicians would have us believe otherwise, businesses don’t have a magic pot of money that fills up to meet new government mandates. And they don’t employ people as part of a social welfare scheme, but to accomplish work that contributes to the profitability of the business.

Aren’t there some employers who take advantage and classify workers as “exempt” just to cheat them out of overtime? Yes, unfortunately, there are. But most employers are fair, and try to offer pay competitive in the local market commensurate with the duties performed.

This mandate raises no new revenue, delivers no new customers, produces no additional goods or services. So rather than get a pay increase, most workers will probably see their base wage fall so that everything remains equal.

The assistant manager working 50 hours now and making $35,000 as a salaried employee will still work 50 hours and make $35,000 as an hourly employee.

And if it did the math on its own figures, the administration knows this. That $1.2 billion in extra wages averages out to $240 per new eligible worker. Hardly the stuff that middle class dreams are made of.

All Americans could use more money in their paycheck. But most Americans are smart enough to know that won’t happen unless there’s more money coming into the business. Too bad the president and his advisers haven’t figured that out.