The fight to raise the minimum wage continues to be a hot topic in America. This time, it's the Californian city of Berkley that's proposing a hike. The Berkley Labor Comission is proposing a minimum wage of $19 an hour. That figure would be the highest in the entire country.
At present, the city of 117,000 residents has a minimum wage of $10 an hour with an increase to $12.53 set to kick in by 2016 according to figures from Fortune Magazine. Under the labor commission's proposed legislation, the city would see incremental increases each year after that with the wage rising to $14.50 in 2017, $16 in 2018, $17.50 in 2019, and finally $19 in 2020.
The official document submitted by the commission cites the numerous benefits increasing the wage would incur:
In the long term, the City is predicted to directly benefit from the increase in tax revenues brought about by the elevated levels of consumer spending that occur when low-wage workers are lifted out of poverty. The City may also enjoy indirect benefits, financial and otherwise, associated with the resulting reduction in local poverty, such as a drop in crime or a boost to educational achievement, though these effects are difficult to isolate and quantify.
The lawmakers are arguing that the current $10 wage is not sufficient for residents:
As of October 1st 2014, the minimum wage rate in Berkeley is $10 per hour, which is approximately $6 per hour less than is necessary for a single full-time worker in Berkeley to be financially self-reliant. In such a minimum wage workers' annual budget, this equates to a shortfall of roughly $12,500 worth of basic living expenses that they must suffer for lack of, go into debt to cover, or rely on public safety net programs to provide.
