In January, California raised its minimum wage to $15.50 per hour. However, four cities in the North Bay have set higher minimums. For example, Santa Rosa and Petaluma employers must pay their workers $17.06 an hour.
Forty-one California cities and counties have established minimum wages higher than the state. Mountain View’s is highest at $18.15 an hour. Congress has not raised the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour since 2009, but 30 states set their minimum above the federal minimum.
Moreover, according to the National Employment Law Project, 12 states and 56 cities and counties have mandated phased-in $15 wage floors. Last year Hawaii became the first state to approve an $18 an hour minimum, phased in by 2028.
Nevertheless, the minimum wage is still not a living wage. A minimum wage is the lowest an employer legally must pay its workers. A living wage is a self-sufficiency wage, or the minimum amount a worker must earn to cover the basic costs of raising a family where they live — including food, transportation, child care, housing, health insurance and miscellaneous expenses — without relying on any government assistance.
The federal minimum does not address the varying cost of living from one state or region to the next, and it is not annually increased for inflation. Only when pressured by the grassroots nationwide “Fight for $15” movement have high-cost states and local jurisdictions legislated higher minimum wage rates, including automatic annual cost of...
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