LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to formally adopt a minimum wage ordinance that will raise hourly pay in unincorporated areas to $15 per hour by 2020. These areas in the Antelope Valley include Acton, Agua Dulce, Antelope Acres, Juniper Hills, Lake Hughes, Lake Los Angeles, Leona Valley, Littlerock, Llano, Neenach, Pearblossom, Quartz Hill and Sun Village.
Supervisors Don Knabe and Michael Antonovich cast the dissenting votes. Two weeks ago, they independently proposed exempting nonprofit businesses, seasonal workers and some employees in training from the wage increase, but failed to gain sufficient support. [Read more here.]
The ordinance gives businesses with 25 or fewer employees an additional year to reach the $15 hourly pay rate.
The board initially approved the county wage hike on July 21.
A series of increases are planned over five years, beginning July 1, 2016, and reaching $15 an hour by 2020. The wage will go to $10.50 in July 2016; $12 in July 2017; $13.25 in July 2018; $14.25 in July 2019; and then to $15 the following year.
After 2022, the wage will be adjusted annually based on the cost of living.
Knabe opposed tying the minimum wage to a cost-of-living index, saying it would limit the county’s flexibility in difficult financial times and hurt small businesses.
Previous related stories:
Nonprofits, seasonal workers not exempt from LA County minimum wage hike
Iknow says
Why pay some kid who stocks shelves at Walmart or punches in your order at Jack in the Box 15 bucks per hour? It’s no-brainer high school work. And if some 40 year old with three kids is stuck in that grind, they have themselves to thank. Hopefully the three kids will see their parent’s misery and will choose to get a better education and better themselves before pushing out another three.
Tim Scott says
Notice the repeated use of the word “better.” What “Iknow” knows is that he (or she) is BETTER than these other people. More deserving. Superior. Worthy.
As I have said before, there is no doubt in my mind that the hardest part of any minimum wage job, the part I acknowledge that I could NEVER do on a daily basis, the part that makes those jobs WORTH every penny of the minimum wage and more, is dealing with condescending jerks who consider themselves superior to the “mere minions” of their world.
Claire says
Here’s a repeat on what I said a few minutes ago. A $15.00 an hour minimum wage would amount to a $17,500 a year tax on jobs. And anyone who thinks that such a tax wouldn’t change employer behavior is simply not inhabiting the same economic universe as the rest of us.
Tim Scott says
Repeating doesn’t make a point more valid. Please explain the mechanism of this “tax on jobs” in terms someone with an economics degree can understand, because it sounds to me like some sort of talking point nonsense that you are just parroting off from some right wing blogosphere source.
Claire says
Yes it does and I don’t care what you think.
Tim Scott says
“Yes it does.”
Yes what does what?
Repeating makes your point more valid? I KNOW that isn’t true.
So, what are you trying to say here?
William says
@Iknownothingaccordingtowilliam
Stop digging the hole you are in.
Reagan cut taxes on the top rate from 70% to 28% and that wasn’t enough for the greedy 1%.
Everything that’s wrong with out economy traces back to your Reagan.
-wages have been stagnant since Reagan
-CEO compensations skyrocketed
-Productivity went up while the workers got nothing.
-Reagan also had to raise taxes many times as the debt and deficits grew
-Wasn’t it about 200 marines that got killed in Lebenon and Ronnie bailed? Now, the filthy, rotten republicans are making a big partisan deal about 4 in Benghazi.
-Trickle down didn’t work, did it?
Oh, it looks great to cut taxes and everybody spends like crazy but we’ve been paying for his stupidity ever since. Whenever you hear someone say things like such and such has been getting worse for the last 30 years, guess who was prez?
The middle class has been shrinking since Reagan screwed up everything.
So, you do know nothing according to me. You’re actually right about that.
William says
Time for Claire to move to Kern county or to quit complaining as the superviosrs already approved it.
But, you know she won’t do either. That’s her racket here.
Tom says
@William,
Kern county has lower taxes. It’s not as regulated as LA county. Better place to live.
William says
And have Kevin McCarthy as your congressman?
Yikes!!! The man is a disaster waiting to happen if he becomes Speaker.
Someone pointed out that as the whip, he had no talent for producing the votes for Boehner.
Tim Scott says
As I’ve heard it McCarthy suffers from the same “flaw” as Boehner…the maniac wing of the party considers him a RINO. In both cases this is a frightening statement on the maniac wing of the party.
William says
The right wingers in Congress have messed it up so much, it’s the worst Congress in history and they want to run the country.
They can’t even run their own party.
It used to be the Democrats who were not an organized political party as Will Rogers joked.
That little grandmother, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, got Obamacare passed and John Boehner spent the last few years with his thumb up his rear when he wasn’t drinking. What a ‘grand old party’ it is.
And, we’ve got some loyal members of it here commenting with all the brilliance of Kevin McCarthy and Sarah Palin.
William says
The right wingers in Congress have messed it up so much, it’s the worst Congress in history and they want to run the country.
They can’t even run their own party.
It used to be the Democrats who were not an organized political party as Will Rogers joked.
That little grandmother, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, got Obamacare passed and John Boehner spent the last few years with his thumb up his rear when he wasn’t drinking. What a ‘grand old party’ it
Iknow says
Great news! While we’re at it, let’s raise it to $30, so everybody with a high school job can live like a king! The money just appears, right? Just comes out of some rich person’s pocket…he’ll never notice. There should be no minimum wage. Anybody in one of these fast food jobs should be in high school or college. Then move on from there. Anybody trying to support a family while working one of these jobs should have maybe thought about college before jumping in the sack. But I do pray for them.
Tim Scott says
No matter what a minimum wage job pays, you won’t find a king working at one. Your “only college educated people should be allowed to reproduce” utopianist theories are interesting though, in a disgusting kind of way.
William says
@Iknow, You really are a cheapskate, aren’t you?
You want to buy burgers and stuff for a few bucks. Well, do without.
What a bunch of selfish people live among us who want to be able to buy stuff cheap while bitching about others making a few dollars more an hour to keep up with inflation.
No, you don’t know and it shows.
pirrurris says
William, what is really disturbing, is that the sameeople that complain about raosing the minimum wage, are the same ones that are making 20 or 30 plus an hour. This is nothing but greed. They are okay wiith them making 30 plus an hour, but not okay if someone else is making the same.
William says
@pirrurris
They want to buy stuff cheap themselves but don’t want the people who wait on their sorry rears to make a decent wage.
That’s really selfish of them. The poor darlings.
Iknow says
Right on guys. “spread the wealth”, right? Poor liberals…misguided souls who don’t understand the capitalist system that made the USA great. You guys probably grew up under mommy’s wing until you were 26…Don’t worry, the government will just print up more money to make up the difference. Poor, poor misguided people. Try reading once in a while, instead of watching PMSNBC.
William says
@Iknow (nothing)
You mean that ‘capitalist system’ that your tax dollars bailed out in 2009? That ‘capitalist system’?
1929, 1987 and 2008 stock market crashes ALL UNDER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTS. We don’t need any more of them, Iknow.
There have been twice as many recessions under GOP administrations in the last 50-60 years than under Democratic ones.
Yeah. You know nothing, just like Sgt. Schultz.
Claire says
Let’s not lock millions of people out of entry-level employment by raising minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. Your comments above are too immature. You just don’t get it, and your really not even interested in understanding.
Tim Scott says
Care to explain the mechanism of this “lock out” Claire?
Businesses don’t have employees just because they are available cheap. I never woke up in the morning and said “I don’t really need any more help, but what the heck I’m gonna hire someone today just because I won’t have to pay much.” I hired people because I NEEDED them in order to make money. I wouldn’t have said “oh, I guess I can’t afford to make money” just because the minimum wage went up…not that I paid minimum wage, but that’s beside the point.
Iknownothingaccordingtowilliam says
Yes, THAT system….funny how you neglect to mention anything that happened under that evil dictator (in your eyes) Ronald Reagan. Just can’t bring yourself to admit that he was as good as Obama and Carter were bad. Besides, you guys love it when fat cats fail, so you should be applauding the stock market crashes. Make up your fickle mind.
Tim Scott says
Actually, he did mention the stock market crash of 1987.
Clearly, the reason someone might think you know nothing is that you apparently don’t even read what you are responding to.
William says
@Iknow
I never said Reagan was an evil dictator.
He WAS a willing tool of the 1%, however.
And, so are you, Iknow.
When are you gonna get it?
Grumpy says
Why work for minimum wage just go on welfare, welfare pays more and you don’t have to get up and waste money on transportation, clothes, eating out, etc….
It should of been $15 a hour 10 years ago! There’s No incentive to work today!!!
Equal808 says
thats it!……Welfare and Slang on the side. Boom! Escalade!
Jim says
Now if you are a senior living on a pension and social security you have all been moved down the economic ladder. We don’t get raises. Inflation has eaten up most peoples savings and now it will jump again.
Tim Scott says
Other than the “we don’t get raises” part this is true. Decades of “cost of living” increases in social security have made being retired more lucrative than being among the entry level workers whose payroll taxes support the retired people. An increase in wages so that the workers are brought closer to being able to actually live with the retired people on their backs is long overdue.
William says
I’m retired and living comfortably on a fixed income but I strongly support raising the minmum wage and indexing it to inflation so we don’t have to revisit this issue over and over.
I want to live in a city/county/state where people who do work at minimum wage jobs can do so without also living in poverty. It makes for a better overall society. And, I want them to have health care too.
It might raise prices but I’ve heard over and over, that it will only raise the price a fast food burger a few cents anyway. So, on balance, it’s worth it.
If it has to come out of some company’s multi-billion dollar profits to stay competitive, so be it. The shareholders and CEOs aren’t going to starve.
lie says
You have NO idea what you’re talking about Mr. Scott. You just want to be contrary. There are millions of struggling seniors on a fixed income that can barely make it, in there advancing age. It’s frightening because they are more vulnerable.
Tim Scott says
There are millions of people working for minimum wage that can barely make it as well.
Meanwhile, let’s talk about these parallel claims that I “don’t know what I’m talking about” and “millions of seniors live on fixed incomes,” because it becomes pretty obvious who doesn’t know what they are talking about. Annual cost of living adjustments to social security have been AUTOMATIC since 1975. NO ONE on social security is “fixed income.”
Try again.
Earl says
Given we are on the county line, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a migration of companies to Rosamond and Mojave and points north and east, unless Kern and San Bernardino counties also follow suit.
Tim Scott says
You realize that wages in the AV have been substantially lower than wages in the LA basin and San Fernando Valley for decades, right? Have you noticed how powerfully that has driven a migration of jobs from there to here? No? That is because it HASN’T driven any such migration.
The idea that companies will “migrate” to places with no customers and no infrastructure because of a wage differential is absolutely true…if you are talking about moving manufacturing overseas and paying pennies on the dollar. Labor differential makes a difference when it is measured in multiples, as in the labor differential from the US to China is now running at about six times, and twenty years ago it ran at about fifteen times.
Nobody is moving over a labor differential of 15%. Even the current six times differential with China is low enough to stem that tide, much to the dismay of Chinese economic growth.
Holli says
So after the minimum wage is raised, how many people will lose their jobs? Somethings has to give , and corporations are not in the business of loosing money. How much more will everyday items go up to cover these new wages?
William says
Dearest Holli,
If you don’t care much about people working their rears off for $8 or so an hour, why should we trust that you care that some will lose their jobs if the minimum wage is raised to $15?
That’s that old right wing bull at work.
Spare us you concern.
billandtimsbogusanswers says
“would you like fries with that”,broke a sweat just thinking how hard that is,whew
William says
Look, ‘soontobeforgotten’.
Would you stand on your feet for 8 hours doing absolutely nothing for minimum wage?
You are what makes this country great. LOL
Claire says
This isn’t about helping the poor worker; it’s about boosting dues.
Tim Scott says
Boosting dues?
Like, union dues?
Raising minimum wage will push wages across the board, and union workers wages going up will lead to increases in total union dues collected. There are ways to collect more union dues that are much more direct though. I think you are digging a little deep into secondary effects to identify a purpose there.
Tim Scott says
I would assume the hardest part of keeping a minimum wage job would be not punching condescending jerks who think minimum wage jobs are somehow less work in the face.
True Moo says
It’s designed to be a constant struggle, to obtain a healthy sum of promissory notes. Every note cannot be backed in its weight in gold, therefore it is fraud! American Dream is a Nightmare for less fortunate citizens.
Ed says
this should be interesting……
dumbandblind says
“In California, for example, a minimum wage worker would have to work 128 hours a week, year-round, to afford a two-bedroom apartment at market rate, as of 2010.”
– How to Qualify for Section 8 Housing Benefits
If we consider the cost of living by year 2020 + inflation the minimum wage should be at least $30.00/hr. based on the above aforementioned.