Here's How Much Minimum Wage In California Is Increasing

CALIFORNIA — Minimum wage workers in California will see their paychecks go up this year, along with those in 19 other states and two dozen cities and counties. That’s according to a new analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which tracks minimum wage changes across the country.

Overall, more than five million low-wage workers will see their paychecks go up even as the federal minimum wage remains stagnant for the 12th consecutive year, the EPI said. In California, approximately 2,560,100 minimum wage workers — 15.9 percent of the state's workforce — this month will see their paychecks increase from $10.50 an hour to $11 an hour if they are employed by a company with 25 or fewer workers, and from $11 an hour to $12 an hour if the company they work for has 26 or greater employees.

The pay bumps aren’t large by any stretch of the imagination, ranging from as low as a nickel raise in Alaska to $1 in Maine, Massachusetts and California.

Eight states — Alaska, Florida, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota and Vermont — increased minimum wages automatically to keep up with inflation. This is intended to ensure those workers don’t lose buying power from year to year.

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In six states — California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Rhode Island — the increases were set by state lawmakers. Several of those bumps were part of broader plans to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The remaining six states — Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Missouri and Washington — saw their minimum wages climb due to voter ballots.

“In recent years, as federal and state lawmakers in many states have failed to update minimum wages, voters have taken up the charge themselves, passing wage increases at the ballot box,” the authors of the blog post wrote.

The EPI said minimum wage increases are one of the most straightforward ways to boost pay for the lowest-earning workers. A “flurry” of similar increases in recent years have led to “sizable gains” in wages for millions nationwide.

“After decades of policy choices that have suppressed wage growth for the most workers, it is encouraging that policymakers and voters have increasingly embraced this simple and effective policy tool,” the author wrote.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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