Global Courant
The posh, celebrity-studded city of West Hollywood officially has the highest minimum wage of any U.S. city, after wages zoomed in at $19.08 an hour on Saturday.
West Hollywood workers welcomed the increase amid rising rent, gas and food prices, though employers grumbled about rising labor costs that they say could put them out of business.
Lucian Tudor, CEO of luxury restaurant La Boheme, told the Los Angeles Times that he has cut staff from 120 to 80 to cut costs. The city’s minimum wage rose $1 in January to $17.50 an hour for businesses with at least 50 employees.
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“These pay increases are about superficiality and about opportunistic politicians just trying to make a name for themselves,” said Tudor, who favors a minimum wage that takes into account tips like New York City’s.
West Hollywood, tucked between the cities of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, has a population of about 35,000.
A general view of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles less than 10 miles outside of West Hollywood, California. West Hollywood has raised its minimum wage to $19.08 an hour, the highest of any US municipality (Photo by AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
The minimum wage also went up in other cities on Saturday.
The minimum wage in San Francisco rose more than $1 to $18.07 an hour. Los Angeles is now $16.78 an hour, and the minimum wage in Washington, DC is $17, up from $16.10 an hour.
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For workers in Los Angeles hotels with 60 rooms or more, the minimum wage was raised from $18.86 to $19.73 an hour on Saturday. Hotel workers in Santa Monica also saw their wages rise to $19.73.
Seattle had the highest minimum wage of any U.S. city in January when the hourly rate rose to $18.69.
Norberto Ruiz, who works at a liquor store in West Hollywood, told the Los Angeles Times that a pay raise last summer allowed his family to buy a $150 air conditioner.
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“I don’t think people understand how much an extra dollar or two can change people’s lives,” Ruiz told the news outlet.
