News
Minimum wage hike won't help many workers in San Francisco
By Kathleen Pender
A proposal to increase San Francisco's minimum wage, already the highest in the nation, won't do much to close the income gap in this high-cost city.
The proposal, which the city decided last week to put on the November ballot, would gradually raise the minimum wage from the current $10.74 to $12.25 on May 1, to $13 in July 2016 and to $15 in 2018.
Many employers in low-wage sectors already pay entry-level workers more than $10.74, so the first-year increase might not affect them. By the time it reaches $15 per hour, it still won't be enough to live on.
A single, childless adult living in San Francisco today needs to earn $15.66 per hour to cover housing ($1,504 per month) taxes, food, health care, transportation and other necessities, according to the Insight Center for Community Economic Development's "self-sufficiency calculator".
