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.

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