November 5, 2024 - Proposition 32

 

Proposition 32 on the November ballot would change the California minimum wage to $18.00 per hour in phases. By 2026 all California workers would receive that as a minimum wage.

 

Before analyzing this Proposition it is important to note that the United states federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour period that has been the minimum wage since the year 2009. I understand the ramifications of states passing higher minimum wages than the federal minimum wage all too well from my own experience.

 

In October of 1976, I was working at a jack-in-the-box on Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica. I was a shift leader and while the minimum wage at the time of my promotion to shift leader was $2.00 per hour. My promotion got me a raise to $2.50 per hour. When the state raise the minimum wage from $2.00 per hour to $2.50 per hour, suddenly the people I supervised were making the same wage as I was. As a result management had to give me another raise from $2.50 per hour to $2.85 per hour. Raising the California minimum wage from its current $16.00 per hour to $18.00 per hour will have a similar effect on the pay structure in businesses where most of the employees are earning the minimum wage.

 

However, the reality is that earning a minimum wage 40 hours a week does not provide an employee with enough money to live on in this location and economy. This justifies the California legislature to increase the state's minimum wage as is proposed in this Proposition.

 

Imagine for a moment living on an annual wage of $37,440 per year. That's what a minimum wage worker would earn if they worked 40 hours a week for 52 weeks in a year at $18.00 per hour minimum wage. I see no way to live on that amount of money unless you're paying no rent and have no transportation costs. Most people living who have a minimum wage job do not have such luxuries.

 

I will vote yes on Proposition 32.