The city council of Richmond, Calif., voted six-to-one late Tuesday to raise the city's minimum wage to $12.30 an hour by 2017, from $8 an hour now. That would give Richmond, a city just north of San Francisco, the highest minimum wage in the U.S. San Francisco currently holds that honor, at $10.74 an hour. You can bet that other local and state governments will be watching Richmond to see if businesses pull out — or profit. This 2009 chart from the Economic Policy Institute suggests the latter — that's why even Walmart is considering throwing its weight behind raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour — but as with all labor policy, there will be winners and losers. --Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescueSpeed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in MoroccoSpeed Read
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female presidentSpeed Read
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. saysSpeed Read
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprisingSpeed Read
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
