Milpitas' Minimum Wage Is Going Up On July 1

MILPITAS, CA — Beginning July 1, 10 cities and counties across the Golden State will increase in the minimum wage. In some cities, industry-specific wage hikes will take effect.

In Milpitas, the minimum wage will rise to $18.20 per hour.

The news is especially important for employers, since they will be required to adhere to new ordinances that mandate the wage increases.
Across California, the minimum wage for most workers is $16.50, up from $16 last year. What's more, at the start of the year, 25 cities implemented ordinances that made the local minimum wage higher than the statewide requirement.

The following cities in the Bay Area will introduce higher wages on July 1, according to UC Berkeley's Labor Center:

• Alameda: $17.46 per hour
• Berkeley: $19.18 per hour
• Emeryville: $19.90 per hour
• Fremont: $17.75 per hour
• Milpitas: $18.20 per hour
• San Francisco: $19.18 per hour

There is a city, however, that came off this list. In Malibu, the minimum wage will not increase, as previously planned. It will remain at $17.27 due to an ordinance that was suspended for one year by the City Council in May to support business impacted by the effects of the Palisades Fire. Malibu typically increases its lowest wage each year.

Also taking effect next month, the following Southland cities will implement industry-specific wage increases:

• Los Angeles City: $22.50 per hour for hotel and airport employees
• Santa Monica: $22.50 per hour for hotel employees and employees of businesses operating on hotel property
• West Hollywood: $20.22 per hour for hotel workers

"These changes will increase wages, with likely limited effects on employment," Ioana Marinescu, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice told Newsweek.

"Employment might decrease a bit in the most competitive labor markets, especially if the minimum wage is high relative to prevailing wages. But employment can also increase in places where there is less competition for workers and where the minimum wage hike is moderate relative to prevailing wages."

"Overall, a small effect on employment seems likely. Minimum wage increases allow low wage workers to keep up with the cost of living, which has recently increased." she continued.

Meanwhile, many of California's fast food workers are paid $20 per hour, according to a law that took effect April 1, 2024. The new law established a Fast Food Council that is also empowered to make future increases to the minimum wage and adopt other employment standards for those workers.

The law only applies to restaurants that are part of a national chain with at least 60 locations across the U.S.

The wage hike has been controversial, with some chains railing against the change. Earlier this year, Dave's Hot Chicken replaced its human dishwashers with automated dishwashing equipment, the Wall Street Journal reported.

By automating dishwashing, the chain said it was able to pay their remaining workers an additional $2 an hour, the newspaper reported.

And while two studies last year reported that higher wages for fast-food workers did not lead to job losses, a newer study claims it has.

READ MORE: CA's $20 Fast-Food Minimum Wage Didn't Lead To Job Cuts, Studies Find

A March analysis from the Employment Policies Institute says it used quarterly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and reported that California had lost as many as 16,000 fast food jobs since the state's new minimum wage law was signed in Sept. 2023. The state lost 14,000 jobs since the law took effect in April of last year.

However, the Employment Policies Institute is also blatantly against minimum wage hikes and ran a full page advertisement in USA TODAY "showcasing the detrimental impacts the wage hikes have had on the state."

Corporations and industry partners had urged that raising the minimum wage to $20 for fast-food workers would lead to dramatic price hikes and massive job cuts. According to a study from the University of Berkeley, California — neither of those things occurred.

What the study did find was that employment levels remained steady across the industry and that workers saw an 18% raise in pay. It also found that the prices of popular menu items rose by 3.7 percent — an increase of about 15 cents for a $4 hamburger.

"We find that a carefully implemented sectoral wage floor can raise worker pay without reducing the number of jobs or substantial consumer cost burdens," said report co-author and Berkeley economics professor Michael Reich.

Some business owners, however, did report an impact as the new ordinance saw fast food workers across the state go from making $16 to $20 overnight.

"We kind of just cut where we can," said Lawrence Cheng, whose family owns seven Wendy's locations south of Los Angeles. "I schedule one less person, and then I come in for that time that I didn't schedule, and I work that hour."