IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Gov. Jerry Brown has reached an agreement with state legislators to raise California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, but the battle regarding that move has only begun.
The proposal, which must be approved by the state legislature, would increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022, according to the governor’s office.
California’s current $10-an-hour minimum is highest of any state. If approved, the increase would affect an estimated 6.5 million Californians, or approximately 43 percent of the state’s workforce.
On Monday, Gov. Brown called the proposed increase “a careful and responsible way” to raise the minimum wage. The wage hike was also praised by labor advocates for being a first step in reversing years of virtually no wage growth for middle class workers.
But the increase might end up hurting the people it’s intended to help, said Christopher Thornberg, director of the Center for Economic Forecasting at the UC Riverside School of Business Administration.
“It’s not going to kill the state’s economy, but there’s no way that it’s not going to have a negative impact on job growth,” Thornberg said. “Some businesses will have to cut back on their workforce, and the people at the bottom are going to be hurt the most.”
The state legislature is expected to approve the measure.
