When lawmakers feel they have no boundaries, as is the case in California, ideas that would have little to no chance elsewhere not only get a hearing, but become law. This explains how the mere thought of hiking the minimum wage for health care workers and support staff to $25 an hour was ultimately, and almost inevitably, converted into a bill.
Some would no doubt benefit from the higher pay. But their windfall would also be a loss for their coworkers and patients.
Democratic Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, author of Senate Bill 525, passed 21-11 by that chamber at the end of May, called the legislation “critical.”
“Higher wages,” she said, “will help restore health care jobs to the status of a job in which a person can support a family.”
So if boosting the minimum wage for health care workers nearly $10 higher than the current minimum wage is a fine idea, why wasn’t it done long ago?
Maybe because someone pointed out how it would impact jobs.
If SB 525 becomes law and health care employers are required to pay workers $21 an hour starting June 1, 2024, then $25 an hour beginning on June 1, 2025, we should expect that there will be fewer workers in the field as each worker becomes more unaffordable. The winnowing will begin as soon as the bill is signed into law.
When not finding ways to trim staff, employers will let open positions go unfilled. It’s the same with every minimum wage increase, even small ones. They’re job killers, and the bigger the wage boost, the bigger the...
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