Thousands of San Francisco workers are starting the new year with a raiseOn Jan. 1 the city's minimum wage will rise 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.
Critics have derided the mandates as anti-business job killers. But San Francisco's economy has proved resilient. The city's unemployment rate was 7.8% in November, well below the 11.3% statewide rate. Over the last year, the San Francisco metropolitan area, which includes parts of neighboring San Mateo and Marin counties, created 3,900 new jobs, mostly in bars and restaurants within the city of San Francisco, according to the California Employment Development Department.
"San Francisco is a model in terms of showing what can be done to improve labor standards," said Ken Jacobs, chairman of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education. "Extensive economic research on the impact of the [minimum-wage] law found no impact on employment."
Although there's little chance of a deeply divided Congress approving a higher federal minimum wage, an effort is underway in Sacramento to raise the California wage to $8.50 and then peg it annually to the inflation rate.
With the economy still sluggish, California needs the stimulus that would be created by an increase in the minimum wage, said Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville), whose district includes farmworkers in the Salinas Valley.
"At a time when the cost of living is skyrocketing, it's becoming more difficult for families making the least in the state to keep up with inflation," he said. "If these low-wage workers get an increase, it goes back into the economy to pay bills."
L.A. Times
The San Francisco solution: To improve the economy, pay workers moreWell-paid workers become free-spending consumers. Free-spending consumers fuel the economy. A better economy breeds more jobs.
Who knows, maybe San Francisco is on to something.. - L.A. Times Opinion
Makes sense to me: the higher the wages the more money consumers have to spend, the more they spend the more businesses thrive, the more they thrive the more workers they hire. It's the multiplying effect, with an added bonus -- higher wages also increase government revenues and helps pay down the debt.
Since trickle down hasn't worked, isn't it time we try trickle up?
Posted by Diana at December 27, 2011 07:59 PM