So I was perusing the net this morning when I ran across an article explaining that the voters of San Francisco approved a law in 2003 that will increase the minimum wage as of Jan 1, 2012 to $10.24/ hour!
This is nearly $2.00/hr above the California State Minimum Wage and nearly $3.00/hr above the federal minimum wage.
The state of New York's minimum wage is in accordance with the Federal Minimum wage at $7.25/ hour.
Now I believe it is good that people are gaining traction in the wage category, but I am interested to see what types of small businesses end up out of business due to the latest increase. I think many states and cities around the country are watching the guinea pig of San Francisco to see what type of expected/unexpected results come from this drastic change in payroll. Remember each of those companies now need to shell out about $1.15/ hr more in payroll taxes for this increase. I will track this over the next year or so to see what happens.
Michael Baxter
Mr. Baxter:
Have you ever lived in San Francisco? It is incredibly expensive. $10.24 might seem like a lot to you. But I struggled to live out there even when I made $18hr at my last job there. Even in Saratoga it would be almost impossible to live on $10.24 an hour even if your rent was somehow paid for.