Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics: Ten Dollars or Thirteen Dollars?
ITEP Work in ActionIn this report we compare the effects of $10 (AB10) and $13 (SB935) minimum wage levels in California. We show that AB10 restores some of the ground lost by low-paid workers in recent years, but it maintains the inflation-adjusted minimum wage at about the same level as in 1988. The Leno bill, SB935, goes much further, raising the real minimum wage to just above the peak value obtained in 1968. Between 2014 and 2017, the aggregate increase in earnings accrued by affected workers will total about $8.2 billion for the $10 minimum wage bill and $22.5 billion for the $13 minimum wage proposal. We also analyze the effects of each minimum wage scenario on California’s businesses and on California’s state budget.