Pasadena Minimum Wage Hike? $15 Hourly Proposed By City Council

Pasadena, California, lawmakers have taken action to raise the city's minimum wage, following the lead of neighboring Los Angeles. The Pasadena City Council was scheduled to convene Monday to discuss the proposed minimum wage hike, according to CBS Los Angeles.

Advocates urged the City Council to implement minimum wage regulations that would mirror the measures enacted in nearby Los Angeles, which require incremental hourly increases through the year 2020. The minimum wage in Los Angeles will go from $10.50 an hour in 2016 to $12 in 2017, $13.25 in 2018, $14.25 in 2019 and $15 per hour in 2020. In the subsequent years, this figure would be adjusted to inflation.

The proposed law would apply to anyone who works in Pasadena -- aside from state and federal government employees and those who are self-employed. An estimated 15,000 individuals, or about 15 percent of those who work in Pasadena, earned less than $15 per hour, according to one advocate group. The city's Chamber of Commerce has asked residents to give their input in an online survey.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has called his city's measure, which passed in June, one of the largest anti-poverty measures, reported CBS.

“Today is a major victory for our city, our communities and working Angelenos across Los Angeles,” Garcetti said at the time. “While our city’s economic health continues to roar back — we have the highest employment levels on record – too many Angelenos are still being left behind. Today’s minimum wage increase addresses that gap, enabling working families in LA to lift themselves out of poverty and tying our minimum wage to the cost of living to make this justice last. LA as whole will benefit from this boost. We have always prospered the most when everyone is able to spend money into our economy.”

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted July 21 to raise the minimum wage incrementally to $15 an hour over the next five years.

The push for a $15 minimum wage has attracted attention across the country as some economists have warned about the dire consequences of doubling the federally mandated minimum wage. A new study published by the American Action Forum and Manhattan Institute found that by increasing the minimum wage, more than 6.6 million jobs could be lost.

“If you raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour, 55 million workers will see their wages affected," reported the study.