The swanky, celebrity-studded metropolis of West Hollywood formally has the highest minimum wage of any U.S. metropolis after pay zoomed to $19.08 an hour Saturday.
Workers in West Hollywood welcomed the rise amid rising hire, fuel and meals costs, though employers grumbled about rising labor prices that they are saying may drive them out of enterprise.
Lucian Tudor, chief government of upscale restaurant La Boheme, instructed the Los Angeles Times he has minimize workers from 120 to 80 to trim prices. The metropolis’s minimum wage climbed $1 in January to $17.50 an hour for companies with no less than 50 staff.
“These pay increases are about superficiality and about opportunistic politicians who are just trying to make a name for themselves,” Tudor, who would favor a minimum wage that accounts for ideas like what New York City has, instructed the information outlet.
West Hollywood, tucked between the cities of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, has about 35,000 individuals.
The minimum wage additionally went up in different cities on Saturday.
San Francisco’s minimum wage elevated greater than a $1 to $18.07 an hour. Los Angeles is now $16.78 an hour, and the minimum wage in Washington, D.C. is $17, up from $16.10 an hour.
For employees in Los Angeles resorts with 60 rooms or extra, the minimum pay elevated to $19.73 an hour on Saturday, up from $18.86. Hotel employees in Santa Monica additionally noticed their pay climb to $19.73.
Seattle had the highest minimum wage of any U.S. metropolis in January when its hourly price elevated to $18.69.
Norberto Ruiz, who works in a liquor retailer in West Hollywood, instructed the Los Angeles Times {that a} wage enhance final summer season allowed his household to buy a $150 air conditioner.
“I don’t think people understand how much an extra dollar or two can change people’s lives,” Ruiz instructed the information outlet.
