The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal Tuesday to incrementally raise the minimum wage in unincorporated areas, reaching $15 an hour by 2020.
The five-member board is likely to approve the increase, with Supervisor Hilda Solis saying over the weekend she plans to join Sheila Kuehl and Mark Ridley-Thomas in backing the ordinance. Solis was initially hesitant about the increase, saying she was concerned about the possible impact on small businesses.
Kuehl’s proposed county wage hike would — like the increase recently approved by the city of Los Angeles — include a series of increases over five years, beginning July 1, 2016, and reaching $15 an hour by 2020. The wage would go to $10.50 in July 2016, $12 in July 2017, $13.25 in July 2018 and $14.25 in July 2019. Like the city increase, Kuehl’s proposal would delay the increase by one year for businesses with fewer than 26 employees.
After 2020, the wage would be adjusted annually based on the cost of living.
Kuehl said earlier she was making the proposal because “many county residents, despite working full time, earn too little in wages to cover even the bare necessities, such as safe housing, healthy food, adequate clothing and basic medical care.” The board discussed the proposal last month, but postponed a vote due to concerns over a Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation report on the issue.
Supervisor Mike Antonovich said he was disappointed the report did not outline the possible effects of a wage increase on nonprofits. He also said he wanted information about the effects of a wage increase on businesses that will be operating across the street from others without the same salary requirements.
He also suggested that some large businesses — such as Magic Mountain theme park — could be annexed into other cities to avoid paying the higher wages, costing the county tax dollars.
On Monday, Kuehl lashed out at a new study on the issue, performed by the Employment Policies Institute, saying it would be “laughable if $55,000 of taxpayer money hadn’t been wasted on it.”
“Sadly enough, that’s more than three full-time minimum-wage workers earn in a year,” Kuehl said.
Kuehl said the institute “has zero academic credibility” and is funded primarily by the restaurant industry and other business and lobbying groups.
—Staff and wire reports