LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A City Council committee considering a proposal to raise the city’s minimum wage will hold four public hearings on the topic across the community beginning later this month.
The council’s Economic Development Committee will hold the hearings to review the results of an economic study of the proposal being conducted at the panel’s request by UC Berkeley. The committee will also review studies commissioned separately by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and the county Federation of Labor.
The proposal calls for raising the minimum wage from $9 an hour to $13.25 an hour by 2017, then to $15.25 an hour by 2019.
“We continue to see a persistent problem with income inequality in our city, an issue that we also know severely impacts our region’s long-term economic development,” said Councilman Curren Price Jr., who chairs the committee. “Raising wages in Los Angeles will not only help hardworking men and women survive, bringing wages up to meet rising costs for goods and inflation, it will also give our local economy a much-needed booster shot, with families spending their additional income right here locally.”
Some business leaders have criticized the proposal, saying it could lead to layoffs of workers or increases costs for products and services as owners struggle to afford the higher wages.
The UC Berkeley study is scheduled to be submitted to the committee on March 16, according to Price’s office.
The committee’s hearings will be held at :
— 1 p.m. March 24 at City Hall, 200 N. Spring St.;
— 6 p.m. March 26 at the Watts Labor Community Action Committee headquarters, 10950 S. Central Ave.;
— 6 p.m. March 31 at Van Nuys City Hall, 6262 Van Nuys Blvd.; and
— 6 p.m. April 2 at the Museum of Tolerance, 9786 W. Pico Blvd.