San Diego’s minimum wage will rise $ 1 an hour (from $ 12 to $ 13) on Jan. 1, making it the largest annual bulge the city has seen in three years.
The latest increase in the city comes after a series of 50-cent increases that began to unfold in 2016, when the City Council approved the series of salary increases. Since January 2016, the city’s minimum wage has risen by $ 2, ahead of the 2021 increase.
The state of California also raises its minimum wage in 2021 to $ 13 an hour, but only for companies that employ 26 or more people. Smaller companies that have staff under this threshold will only have to pay $ 12, which was the minimum wage in 2020. This means that the other 17 cities in San Diego County, in addition to the unincorporated areas, will also experience an increase in the minimum wage for companies that employ 26 or more people.
The city of San Diego does not have this rule. By 2021, all employers located in the city must pay a minimum wage of $ 13, regardless of the size of the company.
While it’s a big highlight compared to the past three years, San Diego’s minimum wage is still lower than in many other California jurisdictions. In July, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Malibu and Pasadena will raise their minimum wage to $ 14.25 per hour for small business owners and $ 15 per hour for large business owners. And the small town of Emeryville, on the outskirts of San Francisco, raised its minimum wage to $ 16.30 earlier this year.
California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, whose 80th district includes Chula Vista, National City and much of downtown San Diego, said the minimum wage is not enough for many working families to live comfortably in San Diego.
“Right now, companies are experiencing high economic growth and those at the top are richer than they have ever been,” said Gonzalez, who previously advocated for worker protections. “The wealth gap is growing. We need to look at how we compensate people and make sure people can make a living. The minimum wage just doesn’t work. “
That said, Gonzalez noted that any increase helps. According to a UC Berkeley study, some 2.6 million Californians will increase in January for this new increase.
Several large companies have already overtaken lawmakers and set higher minimum wages than required by law. Costco, Amazon and Disneyland Resort have already raised their own apartments to $ 15.
David Spatafore, owner of local restaurant group Blue Bridge Hospitality, said the minimum wage increases could disproportionately affect small business owners and mid-level restaurant groups operating in the city of San Diego, like his own.
“Big corporate restaurants can hide wage increases in their purchasing power, but smaller restaurants, from mom and pop (can’t),” Spatafore said.
These groups will pay more, he says, to increase the wages of workers who, when tips are added, already earn more than the minimum wage.
“It’s really starting to become almost impossible to manage our labor costs in recent years,” Spatafore said. “Consumers are only willing to pay for either a burger or a pizza.”
For more information about raising the city’s minimum wage, check out the San Diego City website for the full city code.