California Minimum Wage to Rise to $15.50 Per Hour

By Andrew Sheeler, The Sacramento Bee (via TNS).

This January, California’s minimum wage will rise to $15.50.

That represents an increase of 50 cents-an-hour for businesses with 26 or more employees, and $1.50 an hour for those with 25 or fewer. It’s the first time that the minimum wage is the same for all employers in the state regardless of size.

The hike is a provision of legislation signed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2016 which ties increases beyond $15 an hour to inflation. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in May that this latest increase was based on inflation exceeding 7%.

“The wage increase will benefit millions of California households that are struggling to keep pace with the highest rate of inflation in decades. For years, the state minimum wage has increased steadily while inflation numbers remained modest,” according to a statement from Newsom’s office at the time.

California’s minimum wage is now more than double the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, which has been the federal standard since 2009.

Several California cities have an even higher minimum wage as of Jan. 1, including:

Alameda ($15.75)
Belmont ($16.75)
Berkeley ($16.99)
Burlingame ($16.47)
Cupertino ($17.20)
Daly City ($16.07)
East Palo Alto ($16.50)
El Cerrito ($17.35)
Emeryville ($17.68)
Foster City ($16.50)
Fremont ($16)
Half Moon Bay ($16.45)
Hayward ($16.34 for businesses with more than 25 employees)
Los Altos ($17.20)
Los Angeles ($16.04)
Unincorporated Los Angeles County ($15.96)
Malibu ($15.96)
Menlo Park ($16.20)
Milpitas ($16.40)
Mountain View ($18.15)
Novato ($15.53 for businesses with 25 or fewer employees, $16.07 for those with 26 to 99, $16.32 for 100 or more)
Palo Alto ($17.25)
Pasadena ($16.11)
Petaluma ($17.06)
Redwood City ($17)
Richmond ($16.17)
San Carlos ($16.32)
San Diego ($16.30)
San Francisco ($16.99)
San Jose ($17)
San Mateo ($16.75)
Santa Clara ($17.20)
Santa Monica ($15.96 for most businesses, $18.17 for hotel employees)
Santa Rosa ($17.06)
Sonoma ($16 for businesses with 25 or fewer employees, $17 for 26 or more)
South San Francisco ($16.70)
Sunnyvale ($17.95)
West Hollywood ($17 for businesses with 25 or fewer employees, $17.50 for 26 or more)

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