Long Beach Measure RW was approved on March 5, 2024, by the Long Beach City Council. This measure will raise the minimum wage to $23 by July 1, 2024, and continue to raise the wage till it reaches $30 by 2028, making it the highest minimum wage in the nation.

Long Beach has already implemented a measure that raises the minimum wage of hotel workers every year, this measure has been active since 2016 and raises the minimum wage on July 1 of every year. The wage began at $14.07 in 2016 and has increased to $17.55 in 2023. Measure RW, the new measure will now raise the wage to $23 on July 1, 2024, and will continue raising each year till it reaches $29.50 in 2028.

“As a fast food worker myself I got a state raise and know how if feels to seemingly make more money. Currently, fast food workers including myself make 20 dollars an hour but the side effect of higher pay is fewer hours so I’m making the same and more often than not less than I was before. So with the rise in Long Beach, I am worried about the same situation. A seemingly good thing becoming a problem” Senior Samuel Torres said.

As of right now, the minimum wage holds at about 17 dollars for Long Beach hotel workers, while the state average is around 16 dollars. This bill will make the minimum wage of Long Beach hotel workers the highest minimum wage in the nation. Raising the minimum wage has been known to have a direct correlation to inflation, this phenomenon is described as cost-push inflation.

Cost-push inflation involves the “strain” or “load” of increasing the minimum wage being displaced to other places. With the minimum wage being increased, hotel owners will experience the additional cost of providing these wages, so there are a few options as to what they can do. Firstly, it would be a matter of removing additional employees to cut costs, if not that, then it would be increasing the prices of their services to help accommodate for the additional expense, meaning that people who stay in these hotels will experience higher costs as well.

“Continuing to increase the minimum wage is not the answer as it will only lead to more inflation,” an anonymous student said.