Proposal aims for $15 minimum wage by 2021
California’s current $9 an hour wage is set to increase to $10 next year, and it could keep increasing.
A new proposal aims to boost California’s minimum wage by $1 an hour annually until it reaches $15 an hour in 2021. Groups backing the measure can now collect signatures to get it on the ballot.
“I think it’s a good idea because people aren’t making enough money to get by,” said Naomi Lambertson in Palm Springs.
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley have already approved to gradually raise their minimum wage to the $15 an hour rate.
“Maybe they’d get more out of their employees if they gave them a better wage,” said Dottie Watson, salesperson at Canyon Rose Boutique.
Some Palm Springs shop owners said they have some hesitations. If wages go up, they’ll be forced to increase their prices make employee cuts.
“Most people don’t have a lot of people working for them, the smaller the business they have one or two a shift so how they can cut I don’t know. They have to have people on the floor,” said Watson.
Supporters of the California initiative will need 366,000 signatures by Jan. 27 to qualify for the November 2016 ballot.
