The highest minimum wage in the nation is set to rise again in 2013, as San Francisco’s low-end compensation rate will increase from $10.24 to $10.55 per hour.

In 2003, voters approved a local ordinance tying the minimum wage to the regional rate of inflation in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose. Set at $8.50 per hour when the law took effect, The City’s minimum wage has increased in every year but one since 2004.

City officials and low-wage worker advocate groups have long argued that increasing the minimum wage helps the local economy by giving service industry workers more disposable income to spend.

S.F. employers paying more

Minimum wage has risen almost every year since 2004:
2004: $8.50 per hour
2005: $8.62 per hour
2006: $8.82 per hour
2007: $9.14 per hour
2008: $9.36 per hour
2009: $9.79 per hour
2010: $9.79 per hour
2011: $9.92 per hour
2012: $10.24 per hour
2013: $10.55 per hour
Source: San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement

But a Washington, D.C., economic think tank funded by a restaurant and beverage industry lobbyist is pointing to a more recent University of Kentucky study showing that minimum wage laws like San Francisco’s contribute to a lack of jobs for young workers.

sfexaminer.com