Commuting just 5 miles could mean a raise in increasingly unequal Bay Area

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Posted on 01/04/2025 6:29:57 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

A host of new laws went into effect in California Wednesday, including a statewide minimum wage boost to $16.50 an hour. While that’s the new floor for hourly pay, many Bay Area cities have set their own mandatory wage rates that are above the state minimum — and workers in some of those cities will see their own bump in pay come Jan. 1. This means that a raise could now be just a town away.

According to the Bay Area Labor Center, some 25 local cities raised their minimum wages this year. Interestingly, a number of those cities sit directly next to (or at least in close proximity to) areas that pay a lower minimum wage. The widest discrepancy shows up near Oakland, where the minimum wage became $16.89 an hour on Jan. 1. In neighboring Emeryville, which pays the highest minimum wage in the Bay Area, it’s been $19.36 since July 2024. That’s a difference of nearly $2.50 an hour.

The same goes for workers who cross the bay from Oakland to San Francisco, where the hourly wage is $18.67. That’s nearly $1.50 per hour for commuting roughly 12 miles. And since Berkeley’s minimum wage matches SF’s, an Oakland-based worker could get that bump for going just 5 miles.

“There has ended up being a decent amount of variation, both within the state and in the Bay Area,” Ken Jacobs, a senior policy adviser with the Bay Area Labor Center.

Regardless of the rates paid, “It’s important to point out that none of [these minimum wages] are anywhere near what is a living wage in the Bay Area,” Jacobs said. Even as its housing market cools, the San Francisco metro area remains the priciest in the nation.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...

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