In response to the national affordability problem, senators from California argued for a higher federal minimum wage, which sparked heated discussion.
An audacious request to raise the federal minimum wage to $50 per hour was made by Democratic Representative Barbara Lee during the discussion on February 12th.
At $7.25/hour, it’s about seven times the federal minimum wage; $16/hour is more than triple the minimum wage in California.
According to a United Way study, a family of four in the San Francisco Bay Area would need $127,000 annually to meet essential living expenditures. She brought this up throughout her presentation. Moneywise cites a 2022 United Way Bay Area estimate that a family of four will need $109,088 to cover their essential expenses.
Envision a yearly income of almost $104,000, made possible by a $50 minimum wage. What does that do to businesses and beyond entry-level skilled employees currently making $50 an hour or below? Do the companies go bankrupt when these employees demand a seven-fold increase in pay?
According to Lee, low-income families in 2023 were defined as those with a single breadwinner earning $104,000 per year and living in San Francisco, San Mateo, or Marin counties. This information was sourced from the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
Among the same three counties, a meager income was defined as $65,250 for a one-person family, impoverished income as $39,150, and severely low income as $18,400 per year.
According to the Zillow Home Value Index, three of the most expensive counties in the US to buy a property are San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin.
Those places have exorbitantly high rental charges. According to Zillow, the average monthly rent in the San Francisco metro region is $3,295, 65% more than the national median. A monthly salary of about $10,983 or an annual income of $131,796 would be required to finance it comfortably without going above 30% of one’s income on housing.
Several Democratic contenders for the Senate seat that Dianne Feinstein left vacant in California do not think a substantial hike in the minimum wage is essential.
Steve Garvey, a former major league baseball player for the Padres and Dodgers, thinks the current minimum wage is fair.
He brought forward the new fast-food legislation (AB 1228) that Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law in California on September 28, 2023. Starting on April 1, 2024, the bill will raise the hourly pay of fast food workers to $20. This sum is $4 more than California’s current minimum wage.
