The current minimum of $9 an hour was already scheduled to jump to $10 starting next January. San Francisco and Seattle both voted for hourly wage hikes for city employees to $15 last year. More recently, giant retailers Wal-Mart and Target agreed to increase their minimums to at least $9/hour on the heels of other large stores taking similar action.
The Los Angeles increase will affect more than 560,000 city workers; about 10,000 hotel workers were granted raises to $15.37 per hour by the city last year. While the movement to raise wages for hourly workers is gaining traction in some corners, the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25/hour for the past four years. The Obama administration has long advocated for a national increase to $10.10/hour, but it’s unlikely to become law before the President’s term expires.