Endorsement: Yes on Proposition 32. California’s minimum wage needs a boost

California has an affordability crisis, with millions of people struggling to get by as prices for housing, groceries, gasoline, utilities, child care and other necessities skyrocket. The challenges are especially acute for restaurant, service and retail workers and others who make minimum wage.

Proposition 32 on the Nov. 5 ballot would help by giving the state’s lowest-paid workers a modest raise. The measure would increase the state’s $16-an-hour minimum wage — which is set to rise to $16.50 on Jan. 1 under current law — to $18 on Jan. 1 for companies with 26 or more workers, and $17 for companies with 25 or fewer workers, which would have until 2026 to start paying $18. Under current law, the minimum wage, which rises with inflation, would reach $18.20 in 2029; Proposition 32 would increase it to an estimated $19.30 that year.

This is a reasonable and narrow measure focused on the workers who are most in need of a boost, and California voters should support it.

Opinion

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Between 11% and 17% of California’s 18 million workers would see their pay rise under Proposition 32, according to proponents. But the impact to employers and workers will be light in many of California’s big cities, which have set their own, higher minimum wages that surpass the state’s. For example, Los Angeles’ minimum wage increased to $17.28 on July 1. And some cities, such as San Francisco and West Hollywood, already exceed $18 an hour.

The changes would be more significant in communities where local officials have not acted to boost wages locally. That includes lower-cost inland regions such as the Inland Empire and the Central Valley, but also some of the state’s most expensive areas, including Marin, Monterey, Orange, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz counties where just one city — Novato — has a local minimum wage, according to a recent report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.

Earning a decent wage shouldn’t be a privilege afforded to people who happen to work in the right ZIP Code, and raising the state minimum wage is more equitable than a patchwork of rules for different regions and industries.

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Unions have secured higher minimums for certain sectors. Fast-food restaurant workers already earn at least $20 an hour, and healthcare workers’ wages are rising to $25. But having various minimum wages based on location or type of work can be problematic for employers and is unfair to the workers who are left out.

Proposition 32 is being funded by Los Angeles investor and anti-poverty advocate Joe Sanberg. He and other supporters, including the California Labor Federation and the restaurant and service worker organization One Fair Wage, argue that raising the minimum wage is the most straightforward way to help struggling workers afford rent, groceries and other basic necessities. They also note that low minimum wages subsidize businesses that don’t pay their workers enough to get by in our state, shifting the cost to taxpayer-funded social safety net programs.

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Opponents, including the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Restaurant Assn., argue that workers have already benefited from years of wage increases under the 2016 law that includes automatic cost-of-living adjustments. Opponents argue that pushing the minimum wage higher will cut into businesses’ profit margins and force them to raise prices, cut workers’ hours and cause some businesses to close.

But there is little evidence that nearly a decade of gradual minimum wage increases has seriously harmed California’s economy. Nor has it led to mass job cuts. To the contrary, as widespread post-pandemic staffing shortages have shown, higher wages actually make it easier for employers to fill job vacancies and retain workers.

It is true that the money for higher labor costs has to come from somewhere, but past research shows that it is consumers, not businesses, who pay in the form of higher prices. But it’s important to recognize that while raising wages may contribute to inflation, it also boosts the purchasing power of workers who are impacted most by rising prices and need all the help they can get.

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The reality is, as even proponents acknowledge, that this modestly higher minimum wage is still far short of a living wage. Nor does Proposition 32 fix the underlying issues, chiefly the housing shortage, that make California such an expensive place to live. But a slightly bigger paycheck would be life-changing for the millions of people struggling to make ends meet. That’s reason enough for voters to support Proposition 32.