Minimum Wage Increase Goes Into Effect In San Jose, San Francisco

SAN JOSE (KCBS) – The start of the new year has brought about a welcome boost for low-wage workers in both San Jose and San Francisco, with a hike to the minimum wage in both cities.

San Jose's voter-approved minimum wage hike not only raised the city's lowest salaries to $10 an hour, it pegged the minimum wage to the consumer price index.

So on January 1 – and every New Year's Day – the minimum wage readjusts, on Wednesday going up 15 cents.

The city law was co-written by San Jose State University Sociology Professor Scott Myers-Lipton, who said other cities could follow suit this year.

"This idea of a citywide minimum wage is one that has bipartisan support," he said. "And that's why it's going to spread around this country."

Meanwhile, San Francisco's voter-approved ordinance will increase the minimum wage by 19 cents, to $10.74 an hour. San Francisco and San Jose are the only two cities in California that have these inflation-bases raises for minimum wage workers.

A statewide minimum wage hike takes effect in July, raising worker salaries from $8 to $9 an hour.