A small city in the San Francisco Bay Area, Emeryville, voted Tuesday to raise its minimum wage to $16 an hour by 2019.
Emeryville's city council gave the initial approval with a 5-0 vote, and the measure will go up for a final approval vote on May 19, Reuters reported.
If passed, it would take effect on July 1 and initially raise the minimum wage to $14.44 an hour for businesses with at least 55 workers, and $12.25 for smaller companies, according to city documents examined by Reuters.
It would continue to increase every year until it reaches $16 an hour for all businesses in 2019, the highest target wage set by any community in the U.S.
"The primary goal of all this is to lift the floor of poverty for out lowest paid workers," said Mayor Ruth Atkin, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "We have a tempered regional approach and consensus that includes business. This is a policy for the common good."
Emeryville is just over two square miles in size and has a population of about 10,700.
California's minimum wage is $9 per hour, while the current federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009 despite numerous efforts to raise it to a more liveable amount. Opponents maintain that an increase could place significant burden on businesses, forcing some to lay off workers and pass on the costs to consumers.
Emeryville City Councilwoman Dianne Martinez, on the other hand, said at the meeting on Tuesday that businesses will figure out a way to make it work, Reuters reported.
"Just as our workers are creative enough to make a living off of minimum wage and support their families, I think our businesses will be creative enough to make it work and we'll all lift up together," Martinez said.
