California’s minimum wage is $16 per hour and will continue to increase. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two union-backed bills that will boost fast-food workers to $20 per hour in April and some health care workers to $23 per hour by June.

Note: California’s cities and counties may have higher rates, San Francisco’s is $18.07 and Santa Clara County’s is $17.75.

A 2018 study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center defined low-wage workers as those earning less than two-thirds of the median full-time wage in California.

About 32% of California’s workers, some 4.9 million, earned less than $14.35 an hour in 2017.

Potential impact: California’s unemployment rate is 4.8%, which is higher than the national rate of 3.7%. Some economic experts say an increase in wages could increase unemployment and lead to higher prices.

Here’s an article by the Public Policy Institute of California that says, “Increasing the minimum wage would do little to boost the income of California’s poorest families — and it may even add to their cost of living, according to a new study released today by the Public Policy Institute of California.”

Coming in November: California voters will decide a ballot initiative that would raise the state minimum wage to $18 an hour.

In 2022, 78.7 million employees 16 or older in the U.S. were paid at hourly rates, representing 55.6% of all wage and salary workers. Among those paid by the hour, 141,000 earned the federal minimum wage.

Source: UC Berkeley Labor Center, calmatters.org, California Department of Industrial Relations, U.S. Department of Labor, pay.com