Paige Osburn, Brian Watt, and KPCC staff |Supervisor Sheila Kuehl took aim at the takeaways from a county-commissioned report on the impact of a hike in the minimum wage in L.A. County on Sunday. Supervisor Don Knabe has since weighed in.
Next summer, the city's minimum wage will rise to $10.50 per hour, and it will reach $15 in 2020. Some workers say it'll lift them up. Others worry they'll be laid off.
“Los Angeles moved a bit faster than we thought, and while they didn’t flesh out their ordinance entirely, they certainly spurred us to move more quickly,” said Mayor McKeown.
This was the council's second vote and all but assures the new ordinance will become law. Because the vote was not unanimous, a final procedural vote will come next week.
The L.A. City Council's vote to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020 could reduce reliance on social safety net institutions, a UC Berkeley study finds.
Federal labor laws may trump the city's wage ordinance. Council members say it needs to be studied. In the meantime, they've approved the final hike ordinance.
Helping poor families by raising the minimum wage may disqualify some from subsidized child care while child care providers say their businesses will be squeezed.
