The third annual minimum wage increase kicked in on July 1, bumping up the minimum wage for 762,000 Los Angeles workers with jobs in communities that have enacted minimum wage ordinances.
If their employer has 26 or more employees, workers’ minimum wage increased to $13.25. This includes 71 percent of all workers benefiting or a total of 543,000 workers. Wage increases lag by a year for employers with 25 or fewer employees, going up to $12 this year for 219,000 workers.
Workers are essential for the life of the city. Sustaining wages enable workers to provide the essentials of life for their families. This year’s increases are benefiting:
- 624,000 workers in Los Angeles City
- 55,000 workers in Los Angeles County Unincorporated communities
- 4,000 workers in Malibu
- 44,000 workers in Pasadena
- 35,000 workers in Santa Monica
Improving the lives of low-wage workers is not a zero-sum game in which one person has to lose for another to benefit.
The advantages of a higher minimum wage include increased household buying power, a more stable labor force, and the affirmation of fairness in an economy where we are all interdependent and every segment of the labor force must be able to live decently for the economy to be sustainable. These outcomes benefit everyone, not just those at the bottom.
