California’s statewide minimum wage is now $16 per hour
Wages just went up for thousands of Californians.
As of yesterday, the state’s overall minimum wage is now $16 per hour, up from $15.50. That’s the second-highest minimum in the entire state, behind only Washington at $16.28 (the District of Columbia’s is even higher, at $17 per hour).
California’s latest increase is an inflation adjustment, building on a 2016 state law that gradually raised the minimum wage from $10 to $15.
The 50-cent increase will affect about a million workers, or about 6 percent of the state’s workforce, according to Michael Reich, an economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley. The impact is relatively limited, he told me, because falling unemployment has already led to significant wage growth in low-wage jobs over the past year, reducing the number of people earning the minimum wage statewide.
Another factor: Roughly a third of California workers live in cities and counties with wage ordinances that set minimum levels higher than those of the state, including Los Angeles ($16.78 one hour), San Jose ($17.55) and Oakland ($16.50).
Indeed, 40 cities and counties in California requiring employers to pay wages above the $16 per hour required by the state. Twenty-eight of these municipalities increased their minimum rates on January 1.
West Hollywood currently has the highest minimum wage in the country, at $19.08 per hour. (My colleague Kurtis Lee recently wrote about how this has caused some anxiety among local businesses.) Mountain View, Emeryville, Sunnyvale, Berkeley and San Francisco all require between $18 and $19 per hour, rounding out the top six in California .
Still, these rates are not enough to provide a living wage, experts say. For example, in Los Angeles County, two working adults with one child would each need to earn $23.98 per hour to meet their basic needs. MIT’s living wage calculator.
“Our minimum wage laws are still lower than what workers need to make ends meet,” Ken Jacobs, co-chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, told me. “These higher minimum wages have made a real difference in workers’ lives, but I think one of the reasons you’re seeing a push now to raise those wage levels is to address California’s higher cost of living.”
To address that problem, Governor Gavin Newsom passed legislation in the fall that would require large wage increases, above the statewide minimum, in two industries that employ large portions of the state’s population. One of them will increase the minimum wage for all health care workers in California up to $25 per hour by 2028; the other increases the minimum hourly wage for fast food workers up to $20 per hour.
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And before you go: good news
Although Sacramento has sometimes played second fiddle to Northern California’s bustling Bay Area cities, the capital is booming, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Once the heart of the gold rush migration, the city has been revitalized in recent years by a growing and internationally recognized music scene, Michelin-star-studded restaurants and an array of late-night galleries, bars and donut shops with visitors and residents. .
Four “in the know” Sacramento residents, including Ruthie Bolton, a former player for the WNBA’s Sacramento Monarchs, spoke to the newspaper about their favorite spots in the city. The result is a collage of the city’s greatest gems, including parks, cafes and a farm that also serves as a brewery.
For visitors looking for a slightly different Northern California flavor, this list is your guide.
Thank you for reading. I’ll come back tomorrow. — Soumya
PS Here it is today’s mini crossword.
Maia Coleman, Briana Scalia and Bernard Mokam contributed to California Today. You can reach the team via CAtoday@nytimes.com.
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