New hourly minimum in San Francisco will be tops in country
Some small businesses expect layoffs
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Thousands of San Francisco workers are starting the new year with a raise.
On Jan. 1 the city’s minimum wage will increase to $10.24 an hour. That’s the highest rate in the country and makes San Francisco the first place in the U.S. to mandate double-digit hourly wages for its lowest-paid workers.
For Ace Wiseman, 27, a recent graduate of San Francisco State University who cleans tables for minimum wage in a Sunset District pizzeria, the raise from $9.92 an hour will buy a few more groceries.
“It’ll be nice. … It all adds up,” he said. “I need a second job to start paying off student loans.”
Many San Francisco employers, however, don’t share Wiseman’s enthusiasm for the higher pay. San Francisco’s rate is well above the California minimum of $8 an hour and federal minimum of $7.25 an hour.
Small businesses – led by the city’s No. 1 industry, restaurants – warn that the high rate, combined with other costly city mandates, could force them to lay off workers.
San Francisco isn’t the only government that’s raising the minimum wage next year. Eight U.S. states, including Washington, Montana and Oregon, raised their minimum wages effective Sunday.
Washington state’s minimum will be the highest, at $9.04 an hour.
Additionally, scores of local governments around the country, including at least 32 in California, require some private-sector employers to pay so-called living wages. These mandate minimum hourly pay and sometimes benefits for employees of companies that have been awarded city or county contracts or that are in particular regions or industries.