The continued hike in the minimum wage in one California city — which has the highest in the U.S. — has local business owners worried.
The city of Emeryville, California, garnered the title of being the highest minimum wage city in the United States when the city saw a minimum wage hike in July from $15 to $16.30, according to The Wall Street Journal. Due to the city’s high cost of living in the Bay Area region, supporters of the wage hike saw it necessary.
However, Patatas Neighborhood Kitchen owner Marcos Quezada told the Journal that he had to layoff six employees and slash the dinner shift to make ends meet. He said he was unsure “how [he] was going to survive it.”
Another local business owner Erik Hansen warned, “There is a tipping point” — which his “tipping point” is boiling down to whether he has to let an employee go or increase sandwich prices.
Hansen said, “We may have the highest minimum wage, but I don’t think the people in Emeryville will feel like paying the highest prices in the country.” – READ MORE