California democrat desires to hike the federal minimal wage as much as $50 an hour — says six-figure salaries ‘barely sufficient to get by.’ Is she proper?
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California lawmakers butted heads throughout a U.S. Senate debate over how a lot they’d hike the federal minimal wage in response to the nation’s affordability crisis.
By far probably the most dramatic name in the course of the Feb. 12 debate got here from Rep. Barbara Lee, a democrat, who desires to see the federal minimal wage hiked as much as $50 an hour.
That’s nearly seven occasions the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and greater than thrice the California minimal wage of $16 per hour.
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“I do know what employee productiveness means,” mentioned Lee, who as soon as owned and ran a small business for 11 years earlier than turning her abilities to politics. “Meaning you must guarantee that your workers are taken care of and have a dwelling wage.”
She cited a United Way report which discovered {that a} household of 4 dwelling within the San Francisco Bay Space would wish $127,000 a yr simply “to get by.” (Moneywise additionally discovered a 2022 United Approach Bay Space report that cited a household of 4 would wish $109,088 to satisfy primary wants.)
“Simply do the mathematics,” she challenged naysayers. “We’ve got nationwide minimal wages that we have to elevate to a dwelling wage.”
Crunching the numbers
A $50 minimal wage would lead to a complete revenue of round $104,000 over the course of a yr — and imagine it or not, that also doesn’t meet the median revenue in sure components of the Golden State.
Lee cited 2023 data from the California Division of Housing and Neighborhood Improvement which discovered that individuals who make $104,000 per yr and dwell alone in San Francisco, San Mateo or Marin counties, had been thought of low revenue households in 2023.
In the identical three counties, a one-person family making $65,250 was thought of very low revenue, these making $39,150 had been thought of extraordinarily low and other people making $18,400 per yr had been acutely low revenue.
The senate candidate balked at how a six-figure income is “barely sufficient to get by” in sure components of California and he or she blamed it on “the affordability disaster.”
San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin all rank within the high 10 most costly counties to purchase a home within the US, in response to the Zillow Home Value Index.
Rental prices are additionally sky-high in these areas. In accordance with Zillow, the standard month-to-month asking lease within the San Francisco metro space is $3,295, which is 65% increased than the nationwide median. To comfortably afford that — with out spending greater than 30% of your revenue on housing — an individual or family would wish to usher in round $10,983 per 30 days, or $131,796 per yr.
When justifying her proposed $50 minimal wage, Lee mentioned: “I’ve acquired to be targeted on what California wants and what the affordability issue is after we calculate this wage.”
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The minimal wage debate
Not the entire candidates vying for California’s open Senate seat — to switch the late Dianne Feinstein — agreed that such a dramatic minimal wage enhance is required.
The truth is, Steve Garvey (R) — a former MLB star for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres — argued the “minimal wage is the place it’s and ought to be.”
He introduced up the state’s contentious new fast-food law (AB 1228) — signed into regulation by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 28, 2023 — that may hike quick meals staff’ wages as much as $20 an hour, beginning April 1, 2024. That’s $4 increased than the Golden State’s present minimal wage of $16.
“That’s going to extend prices for hard-working Californians to go to a franchise,” Garvey argued. “As a substitute of a Massive Mac for $9, it’s going to be $15.”
Rep. Adam Smith (D) clapped again: “You need to know why persons are dwelling on the road? It’s as a result of we’re paying them poverty wages. Attempt to discover a home wherever in California once you’re incomes minimal wage.”
He added, “We’ve got to lift individuals’s incomes, we’ve got to construct much more reasonably priced housing and floor companies for people who find themselves homeless. We are able to do that, we’ve demonstrated an strategy that works.”
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