Minimum Wage Hike in Pasadena to Outstrip Los Angeles City and County

Local minimum wage earners with jobs in Pasadena will see a jump in their pay of 82 cents an hour starting on July 1 when the wage increases from $16.11 to $16.93. The City issued the new minimum wage poster last week.

The City’s increase will result in a higher minimum wage that is higher than either the City of Los Angeles (which goes to $16.78) or the County of Los Angeles (which goes to $16.90).

All the wage hikes kick in on July 1.

The Pasadena City Council originally adopted a Minimum Wage Ordinance on March 14, 2016. The wage first increased on July 1, 2016 to $10.50 and increased by $1.25 every year on July 1 until it reached $15 in 2020.

“Pasadena adopted its own minimum wage ordinance in 2016 with strong support from a variety of community and labor groups, as well as low wage earners and members of the immigrant community,” Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian said earlier.

The minimum wage in Pasadena is currently  adjusted annually.  It is linked to changes in the Consumer Price Index established by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for all city-dwellers in the Los Angeles/Long Beach/Riverside metropolitan statistical area. 

The CPI measures the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services.

The Pasadena Minimum Wage ordinance applies to employees who perform at least two hours of work in a particular week within the city of Pasadena. Employers are required to pay the minimum wage set forth below for all hours worked.

Inflation has slammed local businesses and consumers.

The minimum wage is the lowest hourly wage an employer can pay an employee for work. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared the minimum wage be a livable wage when the law was passed in 1933.

Businesses with 25 or fewer employees and qualifying nonprofits have an additional year to comply with each sequential wage increase.