San Francisco raises the minimum wage to $16.99 per hour starting July 1, 2022

(SAN FRANCISCO) Starting July 1, 2022, the minimum wage in San Francisco will increase to $16.99, up from $16.32 in accordance with the Consumer Price Index. A dozen cities and counties in California also increase their minimum wage on July 1.

As of July 1 with new minimum wage laws effective at those cities and counties in California, Emeryville at the East Bay has the highest minimum wage in the nation at $17.68 per hour. Both San Francisco and Berkeley come second at $16.99 an hour.

Under the Senate Bill (SB 3), statewide minimum wage was increased to $15 per hour on January 1 this year for employers with 26 or more employees, and to $14.00 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees.

Although a statewide minimum wage of $15.00 for all employers (regardless of size) was scheduled to go into effect on January 1, 2023, the current significant rate of inflation has triggered an acceleration of the minimum wage increase.

On May 12, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the California minimum wage for all businesses is projected to increase to $15.50 as of January 1, 2023.

The Workers Rights Community Collaborative (WRCC), a multiracial coalition of worker organizations including Chinese Progressive Association, held a press conference at 24th Street BART Station in Mission District on June 30 to raise the awareness among the immigrant communities of the new minimum wage effective on July 1.

Workers from the domestic work, restaurant, day laborer, hospitality, caregiving and other service sectors spoke about the importance of wage increases at a time of the record high inflation. The workers also urged the government agencies to implement the new minimum wage laws to protect the workers’ rights.

May, who is a massage worker, spoke in Chinese and shared her story at the press conference. "I have worked as a massage worker for over ten years. My employers have never paid for my wages at the minimum wage level. I do not know much about the law. I always need to work for long hours and the employers pay me whatever they like to pay."

"Every day, we're meeting with low-income immigrant workers who are pushing for fair, safe workplaces and organizing together for jobs that uphold their dignity -- all of this in spite of long-standing underinvestment and divestment in their communities," Palyn Hung, workers' rights attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, said in a statement.