On Tuesday, San Franciscans overwhelmingly voted to raise the
City's minimum wage to $15.00 over the next few years. The San
Francisco current minimum wage of $10.74 is already higher than
both the federal minimum wage of $7.25 and California's minimum
wage of $9.00. Under the new law, wages will rise to $11.05 on
January 1, 2015, then to $12.25 in May 2015, before increasing
every year until they reach $15.00 in 2018.
The vote in San Francisco reflects a growing trend in cities and
states across the country to provide workers with a so-called
"living wage." On Tuesday, voters in Oakland, California,
approved a measure to raise their minimum wage from $9.00 to $12.25
by March 2015 and voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South
Dakota also approved measures to increase their minimum wages over
the next few years. Alaska will gradually raise its minimum wage
from $7.75 to $9.75 by 2016; Arkansas will increase its from
6.25 to 8.50 by 2017; Nebraska will increase its from $7.25 to
$9.00 in 2016; and South Dakota will raise its from $7.25 to
$8.50 by 2015.
With the vote, San Francisco follows Seattle, which approved a
gradual increase to its minimum wage in June, to raise its minimum
wage to $15.00 – the highest in the country.
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