California’s newly enacted plan to raise the state’s minimum hourly wage from $10 to $15 over the next several years has generated significant attention — some heralding the various ways this increase will benefit workers and their families, but some suggesting potential risks a statewide $15 minimum wage poses for employment growth. Much of the concern, however, has been based on misperceptions about the effects of the higher minimum wage, or has put outsized emphasis on supposed impacts that either are unknown or have been found to be insignificant. Along the way, commentators have often remarked that California’s plan represents “uncharted territory” and a “bold experiment.”
California’s plan to bring the minimum wage up to $15 and the resulting coverage and commentary raise important questions about what we know and what we don’t know about the minimum wage, and a $15 minimum in California in particular. After taking a brief look at how California’s minimum wage increase is structured, this post separates out the facts from the fiction — underscoring both the crucial benefits of the $15 minimum wage and key considerations moving forward.
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