Wages going up in S.F.
Businesses prepare for voter-approved boost in minimum
San Francisco Chronicle
Pia Sarkar, Chronicle Staff Writer
February 21, 2004
For all the fuss surrounding San Francisco's minimum wage hike, businesses are learning to come to terms with it now that it is upon them.
The new wage kicks in Monday, bringing the minimum hourly rate for the city to $8.50 from $6.75....
Restaurants have also made preparations for the change. Some have said they will raise menu prices to offset their own costs. Others plan to reduce pay for busboys and dishwashers who now earn more than the minimum wage.
KEN JACOBS, A LABOR POLICY SPECIALIST AT THE UC BERKELEY LABOR CENTER, said minimum wage increases of the past have not led to such actions, and probably won't lead to any now.
"The experience from other places is that firms adjust and learn to live with it," he said.
Jacobs said that as a percentage, this most recent wage increase is smaller than previous ones. And although the impact on businesses, he said, would be small, the benefits to workers would go a long way.
"For the individual worker, it does make a difference," Jacobs said. "For people who are living on the margin, these small amounts make a difference in paying rent and putting food on the plate for their families."
Source: UC Berkeley in the News
12:39:40 PM 
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