California boosts minimum wage

California's lowest-paid workers are getting a 50 cents-an-hour raise this year as the state increases the minimum wage to $8, making it among the highest in the nation.

The increase will boost the salaries of an estimated 1.4 million workers in the state. The list includes day-care workers, custodians, security guards and fast-food workers.

Virginia Garcia of Fresno, Calif. who works at Little Caesars Pizza, is happy to be earning more money.

"It is a big deal," said Garcia, 21. "It's just too bad that everything else is going up with it: rent, gas and food."

Garcia doesn't know how much more she will be earning. Her bigger paycheck will come next week.

"It is going to help. Every little bit helps," she said.

California's new minimum wage was approved by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2006 and was phased in over the past two years, rising from $6.75 in 2006. The new rate went into effect Jan. 1.

Nationwide, California's new minimum is tied with Massachusetts for second place. Washington state is the highest with $8.07.

"With this increase, we are demonstrating the value we attach to the work these employees provide to our state and its dynamic economy," said John Duncan, director of California's Department of Industrial Relations.

Not everyone has welcomed the salary increase. Some business owners who employ lower-wage workers say it may force them to pass along the additional costs to their customers.

Of the 180 employees at AmeriGuard Security Services in Fresno, about 40 will receive the automatic wage hike, said Lawrence Garcia, company president.

"What happens is that it raises our overall cost of doing business," he said. "And in these times, everyone wants security. But they don't want to pay very much for it."

Garcia said he is considering raising rates, once he figures out how much more he will pay: "This is something that we are going to be taking a look at in the next few weeks."

Employee advocates and labor groups said that while they supported the wage increase, it doesn't go far enough.

California Labor Federation officials say the minimum wage should be tied to a cost-of-living increase because the rate of inflation is outpacing workers' salaries.

Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project, estimated that a single adult working full time needs at least $13.60 an hour to pay for basic expenses such as housing, food, transportation and health care.

Ross said that while some businesses may not like the wage increase, adding more dollars to workers' pockets translates to more local spending.

"Lower-wage workers generally spend everything they earn," Ross said. "They are not taking vacations or putting their money into a 401(k). They are using that money to go to the grocery store, buying shoes for the children and spending it with their local merchants. It all goes back into the economy."

E-mail Robert Rodriguez at brodriguez(at)fresnobee.com.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)