Los Angeles, California, the second largest city in the United States, is paving the way for social justice and labor rights! This week it became the biggest city in the nation to agree to raise the minimum wage from $9 to $15 an hour. Way to go LA!! 

The proposal sets out to increase the minimum wage by a dollar a year from 2015 to 2020, and is estimated to impact 800,000 LA residents. According to an RT article, based on a 40-hour work week, the increase will account for an additional $48 a week or $2,000 a year for the next five years. This is a huge step forward! 

Advocates for increasing the minimum wage are hoping the example LA has set will inspire other cities in the United States to follow suit, like New York City - where the current minimum wage is $8.75. The Federal minimum wage is even lower at only $7.25.  

Raising the minimum wage is hugely important as it will even the playing field and allow hard-working Americans to have a real chance of living a comfortable life. Advocates have a simple message: raise the minimum wage to a living wage. The Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, explains the significance of LA’s decision well in an interview with the New York Times: 

“We’re leading the country; we’re not going to wait for Washington to lift Americans out of poverty. We have too many adults struggling to be living off a poverty wage. This will re-establish some of the equilibrium we’ve had in the past.”

I think it’s pretty amazing that the city of LA is being proactive and taking matters into its own hands to fight for the rights of its citizens. I really hope other cities and states will follow in these brave footsteps. In my opinion, the answer is clear. Increasing the minimum wage is a key strategy to help grow the economy and to help working families make ends meet. Without increasing the minimum wage, families don’t have a chance to uplift themselves. The current minimum wages are not living wages by any means. 

It’s time to set the record straight-The top arguments against increasing the minimum wage don’t hold up.  It’s simply not true that  most minimum wage workers are teens, that it’s someone’s own fault if they aren’t making ‘enough’, that higher wages cause higher prices, or that small businesses can’t afford to increase the minimum wage.

Thank you LA for setting an incredible example for the rest of the country.