New Year Bringing Minimum Wage Increases For Bay Area Cities
SACRAMENTO (KCBS) — January 1st will bring increases in the minimum wage in San Francisco and San Jose—two of the Bay Area's largest cities. Meanwhile, California's minimum wage will also increase later in 2014.
San Francisco's minimum wage is going up from $10.55 to $10.74 an hour and in San Jose the rate is increasing from $10 to $10.15 an hour.
New Year Brings Minimum Wage Increases For Bay Area Cities
San Jose city's spokeswoman Lenka Wright said voters last year approved a $10 minimum wage and indexed it to inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
"The CPI increased by one and half percent over the last twelve months and so that's why, as of Jan. 1, the minimum wage in San Jose will be going to $10.15 and hour," she said.
Labor leaders think minimum wage increases are long overdue.
"It's finally time for people to realize that the economy is really not going to start to recover until wages rise." Mike Casey, president of Unite Here Local 2, which represents thousands of hospitality workers in San Francisco and San Mateo County, said.
Governor Jerry Brown has signed legislation that will bump the state minimum wage to nine dollars an hour in July, and ten dollars in 2016.
Critics however, including the California Chamber of Commerce, call the wage increase signed by the governor a job killer that threatens the state's fragile economic recovery.
(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
