CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\nChris Tilly, a professor of sociology and urban planning, said California\u2019s annual minimum wage increases are designed to keep pace with the state\u2019s rising living expenses, rather than give Californians more purchasing power.<\/p>\n
California lawmakers calculate adjustments to the state\u2019s minimum wage through the Consumer Price Index, which measures changes in the costs of everyday goods and services, Tilly said. The metric tracks the retail prices of thousands of products and places more emphasis on items that make up a larger share of household spending.<\/p>\n
However, he added that the state\u2019s current cost-of-living adjustment is not enough to reduce poverty and slow wage growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you had a dramatic increase in the minimum wage, that could potentially lift people above those thresholds,\u201d Tilly said. \u201cBut that\u2019s not what\u2019s currently happening in California.\u201d<\/p>\n
While minimum wage boosts could cause employers to cut workers\u2019 hours, higher pay can increase worker productivity, Tilly said. He added that minimum wage increases do not impact employment much overall, but small businesses often still struggle because they are forced to pay raised rates.<\/p>\n
Businesses that rely on in-person service, such as restaurants, are unlikely to move out of California in response to minimum wage increases because they depend on local customers, Tilly said.<\/p>\n
Victor Narro, a project director for the UCLA Labor Center, a research institute focused on advocating for workers\u2019 rights, said Black and immigrant workers \u2013 including undocumented people \u2013 make up much of the workforce in LA\u2019s car wash and garment industries, where low wages and hour violations are common.<\/p>\n
\u201cUndocumented immigrants go through another layer of exploitation in the workplace because of their immigration status,\u201d Narro said. \u201cBut they also go through this, too, when they try to rent apartments.\u201d<\/p>\n
People cannot afford high-quality housing in LA at the current minimum wage, Narro said. Renters need to earn $49.98 per hour, nearly three times the current minimum wage, to afford the average monthly asking rent of $2,599, according to the LA County 2026 Affordable Housing Needs Report.<\/p>\n
Narro added that this is especially tough for UCLA students who are searching for housing.<\/p>\n
The housing crisis contributes to wage-related issues, as many LA-based workers spend more than half of their income on rent, Narro said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of workers that work in the city of LA live 30 or 40 miles away,\u201d he said. \u201cThey contribute to LA\u2019s economy, but they cannot live in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fiegl said she supports the minimum wage increase because it could help offset some of the financial pressures that students face in LA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think the increase is good,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s so many different fees and expenses that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anneliese Fiegl, a senior student supervisor at Kerckhoff Coffeehouse, uses most of her earnings to pay for tuition…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-375077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}