LA raises minimum wage rate

Los Angeles, Feb 4 (IANS) Los Angeles will raise its minimum wage from $15 to $16.04 per hour starting from July 1, the city's Mayor Eric Garcetti announced.

To ensure that local workers' wages keep pace with inflationary increases, Garcetti said in a statement that this move will help to lift more than 600,000 residents currently earning minimum wage and their families out of poverty, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to an ordinance passed by the city council in 2015, the city's lowest-paid workers wage rate should be adjusted based on the region's Consumer Price Index, making Los Angeles the first in the US to stipulate that the minimum wage hit $15 per hour by 2020.

While Los Angeles' minimum wage will be among the highest in California, there are several cities in the Golden State that pay more.

In Los Angeles County, the West Hollywood City approved an ordinance last November that would set the city's minimum wage for all workers there at $17.64 in July 2023.

Last month, California's minimum wage also climbed to $15 per hour for companies that employ at least 26 workers, becoming the first in the nation to hit that threshold. This standard will be implemented for all businesses statewide next year.

The recent increase in inflation across the nation that reached a nearly 40-year high in December after spiking 7 per cent over the previous year is prompting about 26 states to increase their minimum wage.

Nationally, the federal minimum wage is $7.25, a rate that hasn't been raised since 2009.

Meanwhile, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee do not require a minimum wage at all.