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Summary Analysis <br />“The Effects of a $15 Minimum Wage by 2019 in <br />San Jose and Santa Clara County” <br /> <br />U.C. Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) completed a <br />study in June 2016 analyzing “The Effects of a $15 Minimum Wage by 2019 in San <br />Jose and Santa Clara County” (full report provided as Attachment D). The study came <br />to two main conclusions. First that a $15 countywide minimum wage would increase <br />earnings for workers and “the improvement in living standards would outweigh the small <br />effect on employment.” Second, with the expected positive and negative effects on <br />employment offsetting each other, “the impacts of the minimum wage will be employee <br />turnover reductions, productivity increases and modest price increases.” <br /> <br />Some of the supporting key findings include: <br />· An increase of the minimum wage to $15 would increase earnings for 115,000 <br />(31%) San Jose workers and 250,000 (25%) Santa Clara County workers. <br /> <br />· The median annual earnings of workers who would get a raise ($18,100 – San <br />Jose, $17,821 – Santa Clara County, in 2014 dollars) is about one-third of the <br />median earnings for all workers in San Jose ($50,507) and Santa Clara County <br />($57,956). <br /> <br />· Restaurants and food service businesses would be most affected with 77.8% <br />(San Jose) and 71% (Santa Clara County) workers in the restaurant industry <br />expected to see a wage increase. <br /> <br />· Total wage costs are expected to increase by 10% (San Jose), 9.5% (Santa <br />Clara County) for restaurants, 1.3% (San Jose), and 1% (Santa Clara County) <br />across all employers. Since the workers receiving the increases are the lowest <br />paid workers in the work force, the increases represent only 8.3% (San Jose) <br />and 6.1% (Santa Clara County) of total wages. <br /> <br />· Businesses could increase prices by about .2-.3% in the overall economy and <br />between 2.9-3.1% in the restaurant industry to cover this increase in payroll <br />costs. <br /> <br />· Overall, the $15 minimum wage results in a slight slowing of employment growth <br />(loss of 80-100 jobs) in San Jose and Santa Clara County respectively when <br />taking into account the effects on the overall region. <br /> <br />8.A. - Page 12