[KHTS] – The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to analyze and prepare for a potential minimum wage hike in Los Angeles County.
With that vote, they enter into an agreement to transfer no more than $95,000 to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) to analyze and prepare a report to be completed within 45 days on the likely fiscal and economic impact of raising the minimum wage in the County, according to county officials.

“Regardless of definition, many LA County residents who work full-time earn wages that do not cover the basic costs of living, which should provide for safe housing, healthy food, clothing and basic medical care,” according to the motion by Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis. “The current minimum wage in Los Angeles County is $9.00 an hour, set by state law, which equates to $18,000 a year for a full-time employee.”

Minimum wage has been a hot topic for years, with sixteen U.S. cities and counties approving a new local minimum wage, with Seattle capturing national attention when it approved a minimum wage of $15.00 an hour, to be phased in over several years, according to the Board of Supervisors agenda. In California, the cities of San Jose, San Diego, Berkeley, Richmond, Oakland and San Francisco have raised wages over the past year.

Not everyone is on board with the proposed hike in wages.

“The Supervisor is very concerned about the negative impacts a minimum wage increase would have on small businesses and the economy including job losses and employee displacement –particularly where city and county unincorporated boundaries meet,” said Tony Bell, a spokesman for county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich. “Mandating a higher wage on businesses that may literally be across the street from competitors would create discrimination by government fiat. Further, any study must include research from the Employment Policies Institute and other research entities, so that a balanced and impartial report can be developed.”

The report will review and assess all recent minimum wage studies, along with other contemporary research related to minimum wage increases in large metropolitan areas and unincorporated areas, according to board officials.

“Parents in Los Angeles County are forced to make difficult choices when low wages do not provide sufficient income to provide food, clothing and shelter for themselves and their children,” according to the motion. “These families, struggling to meet their basic needs, also cannot fully participate in the many educational, cultural and recreational opportunities available to them.”

The report will analyze how the findings from these studies would apply to the county if the board were to implement a minimum wage in the unincorporated areas of the county similar to those proposed for the city of Los Angeles, according to county officials.

“The disparity between the high cost of living in Los Angeles County and the income earned from working full-time at the current minimum wage has made economic inequality one of the most pressing social, economic and civil rights issues facing our region today,” according to the motion.

The report, in particular, should assess the likely impacts of implementing the same minimum wage levels proposed for the city on workers, businesses and nonprofit agencies in County unincorporated areas and consider how these impacts might vary depending on the size of the enterprise, paying special attention to the impacts on the “mom and pop” shops that make up the vast majority of County businesses.