I’ve written before about San Francisco’s high minimum wage. Well, it’s going up. Effective January 1, 2012, the San Francisco minimum wage goes from $9.92 to $10.24 per hour. According to the Office of Labor Standards Enforcement, which enforces the minimum wage ordinance, this figure applies to anyone who, in a particular week, performs two hours of work within the city limits.
I don’t begrudge anyone their right to earn a decent living. But if a business that relies on unskilled labor has a choice where to open, wouldn’t it avoid a location where it has to pay entry-level employees 28% more than the state minimum wage? For an earlier discussion of jobs leaving the state as a whole, read this.
Update – Here’s a December 1, 2011 Huffington Post article about SF’s minimum wage and studies discussing the effects of such increases.