California has the highest statewide minimum wage in the country at $15, which is more than double the $7.25 federal minimum. But is it enough?

Well, It depends who you ask.

Typical expenses like food, child care, medical, housing, transportation and more determine the living wage or hourly rate that an individual in a household must earn to support themselves and their family.

And with California average gas prices being the highest in the country, coupled with the steady rise in home, rent and food prices, Lizzet Aguilar Figueroa with The Fight for $15 and a Union Campaign said the millions of minimum wage adult workers aren’t earning enough to live comfortably.

“$15 isn’t enough to live a life with dignity...at minimum we should be making $20,” said the California leader of the minimum wage advocacy movement. Figueroa spoke with The Bee in Spanish, using a translator for the interview.

And some minimum wage workers are earning even less. The statewide minimum wage for employers with 25 or fewer employees recently increased $1 in 2022 to $14 an hour, according to the California Department of Industrial Relations’ minimum wage page.

According to the official California schedule for minimum wage rate, which has steadily increased $1 once a year since 2019, it could take at least five years for the state minimum wage to reach $20.

Which is about how long it took for California to raise it’s minimum wage to $15 after former Gov. Jerry Brown signed it into state legislation...

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