Last week, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee introduced a proposed measure that, if approved by voters in November, would gradually bump San Francisco’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by July 2018. Though backed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, labor unions, nonprofit groups and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, some bar and restaurant owners are less than happy about the proposal, and say that they will have to pass the cost on to you. Let's look at some numbers:
- $10.74: San Francisco's current hourly minimum wage
- $11.03: With the already-scheduled Jan. 1, 2015 increase, what the wage was expected to be before this new proposal
- $12.25: Under the new proposal, SF's minimum hourly wage as of May 1, 2015.
- $13: Minimum wage as of July 1, 2016
- $15: SF's minimum wage would go up another buck in 2017, then would hit this rate as of July 1, 2018
- $15.66: The amount a worker needs to make an hour "to cover housing ($1,504 per month) taxes, food, health care, transportation and other necessities"
- 11%: The percent of SF workers believed to have made minimum wage in 2013
- $12: The current hourly rate Chipotle is offering hourly workers in SF
- $15: The current hourly rate Anchor Brewers & Distillers is offering a part-time custodian
- $12.50: The hourly rate In-N-Out offers San Francisco workers
- $20-$25: The hourly rate domestic staffing agency Town + Country Resources charges for nannies in SF homes
- $22 to $27: The hourly rate Town + Country Resources charges for housekeepers of San Francisco abodes
- $12.26: The hourly rate San Francisco's Institute on Aging pays home care workers
- $30-$40: The amount of money waiters and bartenders who are tipped and make SF's current minimum wage can earn per hour, according to Ben Bleiman, owner of local joints Bullitt, Tonic and Wild Hare
- $7: According to the San Francisco Bar Owners Alliance, what watering holes will have to start charging for a bottle of beer to offset the new wages
- $9: What it'll cost for a cup of soup, warns the Golden Gate Restaurant Association, if the minimum wage proposal prevails
- $10: What they warn your "lunchtime sandwich" will cost
- 3%-5%: The profit margins restaurant owners say they have now
- Less than zero: Their profit margins after "after a string of progressive laws from City Hall" including the minimum wage proposal
Facts and figures: Minimum wage hike won't help many workers in S.F. Saturday, June 14, 2014 and $15 wage too much to swallow, restaurant group says Sunday, June 15, 2014, both San Francisco Chronicle
