How Much Is Minimum Wage In Los Angeles
The minimum wage for workers in California is currently $9 an hour. This amount was set back in 2014 when it was raised from $8 per hour!
This means that if you are willing to work full time (3,000 hours per year) at least 30 hours per week, your salary would have to be at least $2,700 per month ($27,600 per year)!
Obviously, this isn’t practical so employers look to hire people who are paid less than the current state mandated rate.
Businesses actively avoid hiring individuals because of the high cost of employee benefits like health insurance, retirement savings, and/or tuition reimbursement. These things can add up quickly so employees must be compensated well.
Minimum wages increase the price of employment thus making it more expensive for businesses to recruit and retain staff. This is why one never hears about companies raising their minimum wage- they don’t exist anymore!
Fortunately, we all benefit from higher pay since our income grows with it but what about those who aren’t as fortunate? What happens to those who can’t afford to eat every day?
We will talk more about that later. For now though, let’s discuss how much the minimum wage has increased in Los Angeles.
History lesson: When did the minimum wage first come into existence?
The federal government originally implemented a national miniumwage law in 1938.
History of minimum wage
The concept of a national minimum wage comes from an article published by the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1917. At that time, the AFL proposed establishing a federal minimum hourly wage for workers across America! They argued that this would help ensure all citizens received at least a bare minimum income to survive each day.
Since then, many states have enacted their own minimum wages above this federally-set level. Today, more than 30 countries around the world have some sort of minimum wage law in place.
Many economists argue that these laws improve overall working conditions for everyone involved. By ensuring people are paid enough to meet their basic needs, employees are much less likely to resort to low quality employment or even drop out entirely.
On the other hand, some employers believe they can get away with paying lower wages because they are protected by the law. This may lead to poorer working environments and higher employee turnover.
Fortunately, there is now a new player in the game when it comes to setting local minimum wages! More and more cities and states are passing legislation that sets explicit levels of pay for different positions. It is important to note that although these bills are called “minimum wage” reforms, they go one step further and increase the legal floor for salaries!
Los Angeles has been moving forward with such legislation recently.
Current minimum wage in the U.S.
Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, which was last increased in 2014 to match California’s current state minimum of $8.00. The local ordinance goes even higher than that though- at least $9.00 for employers with more than 10 employees!
California has one of the highest minimum wages in the country, making it expensive to hire new workers or retain current ones. Business owners who are already struggling to afford employee benefits like health insurance and paid vacations can feel even worse when they have to pay an additional cost for their team.
Fortunately, there are ways to help lower the minimum wage in LA. Read on to learn more about some potential solutions and what your city council may be discussing this summer.
Current minimum wage in California
Currently, the federal miniumum wage is $7.25 per hour and it’s increasing to $10.00 an hour within the next two years. The state of California also has its own minimum wage that was last raised from $8.00 to $9.00 back in January 2016.
Now, almost one full year later, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law legislation that will increase the statewide minimum wage to $15.00 by 2022! This new wage will be adjusted for any cost-of-living variations as well as employment fluctuations and seasonality.
This sounds like a very aggressive goal, but there are some reasons why this is important. First, studies show that when employers pay their employees enough money, they spend more money at stores and restaurants near work, so workers get paid well helps keep our communities healthy. Second, higher wages help reduce poverty since people who are paid enough eat better and live healthier lives. Third, research shows that raising the minimum wage doesn’t have a huge negative effect on business profits…yet!
But what about those who can’t make a living due to this new wage? There are several strategies individuals and businesses use to deal with lower income earners including offering discounts or free services to customers, only hiring certain professionals or giving up working altogether.
However, while these may seem like good ideas, they actually hurt other people in your community.
How much is the minimum wage in Los Angeles?
The federal government sets the national floor for wages to be paid to workers at $7,500 per year. This amount is referred to as the “Minimum Wage” or the "Federal Minimum Wage."
Some states have their own laws that go above this federally-mandated level. These are known as "Local Maximum Wages" or "Higher Than Federal Minimum Wage Levels."
In fact, California has its own higher local maximum wage of $10,000 per year! So if you're living in Los Angeles, your paycheck can actually exceed $10,000 per year before taxes.
But what about all those people making less than the state's high minimum wage? Are they getting enough money to live on?
Fortunately, we've gathered some information here to help you out! Read on to find out how much employees make around town, and whether it's enough for a decent lifestyle.
How does minimum wage affect employment?
The question is how much does paying workers more influence employers to hire more people, or prevent them from hiring additional staff? Most studies find that higher wages have little effect on employer spending.
In fact, some research finds that when employers must pay employees at least a certain amount, they may lower employee salaries to make up for it. This practice is called “wage dilution.”
A study conducted around five years ago found that every $1,000 increase in average weekly earnings (the salary paid to each worker per week) was associated with only a 1% increase in total payroll costs for large firms. [Note: There are different ways to define “large firm.” In this article we will use the most common one.]
Another review of past studies concluded that raising wages by $2,000 per employee would cost an employer no more than a few hundred dollars per position. That is, if your job description includes writing a paragraph like this one, you can probably afford to spend a couple of bucks extra per hour today.
Should minimum wage increase?
The topic of whether or not to raise the national average minimum wage has sparked much debate across America. Some believe that raising the wages is essential for keeping businesses competitive, while others argue that it will have disastrous effects on small business owners and employees.
Some studies even predict major job losses due to higher labor costs!
Fortunately, we can look at data and statistics about what current minimum wages are like in other cities to determine if an increase is warranted here.
If you would like to see a rise in the federal minimum wage, then start educating yourself about how much money people making less than $15 per hour earn.
It’s also important to understand why income inequality is growing in our country so that you can properly evaluate if this increase is necessary.
While there are many reasons why wealth is becoming more concentrated in the few, such as corporate greed, there is one huge factor that gets ignored when talking about rising income inequality - the cost of living.
Minimum wage isn’t the only cause of the increasing gap between rich and poor, but it makes things worse by forcing some to choose between eating every day and paying for rent or buying food.
So before deciding if a rise in the minimum wage is needed, make sure to do your research on the overall effect on poverty and unemployment.
Are there any other factors that affect minimum wage?
One important factor that goes into determining what the national federal minimum wage is, as well as the state-level minium wages in your area, is how large or small an economy the country you are in is.
The more populous a nation is, then higher income earners will have more opportunities to make enough money to live a wealthy lifestyle, thus setting a high bar for the federally mandated minimum wage. This was evident when we discussed before why the average American has such a high hourly pay rate.
On the other hand, economies with less people typically have lower salaries due to there being not very many rich individuals in the area. These low incomes can be easily surpassed at times, making it possible to earn just above the mandated minimum wage.
This does occur quite a bit since most countries develop some sort of welfare system in place, which helps keep individual earnings up even if they are only a few dollars over the threshold.
What are some ways to protest minimum wage?
One of the biggest issues with raising the national minimum wage is how it impacts businesses, workers, and communities. If you go up too high, people will lose their jobs, and those who work for lower paying positions may be asked to do more work due to higher competition.
Raising the nationwide minimum wage was attempted back in 2009 when Obama introduced his own plan. However, the job market at that time was not as strong as it is today so employers were able to find other employees to take their place while others dropped out because they could no longer make ends meet.
Since then, several states have passed legislation that sets their own local minimum wages that are either above or below the federal level. It’s important to remember that although each state has its own laws, what happens in one area can affect another!
Because of this, there is an organization called The National Employment Coalition which works to inform citizens about the effects that changing employment regulations have on our lives. They also encourage people to actively participate in the political process to ensure that changes like these don’t negatively impact anyone else.
They suggest looking into the costs of living in your area and determining whether or not having less money is something you can live without. Many things needed to survive are already cost effective so if you really want to cut down on expenses, we should all be willing to spend less than we need to.