AgdaPkt 2017-09-25 Closed and Joint SA PFA

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The Effects of a $15 Minimum Wage by 2019 in Santa Clara County and San Jose 24 families will still see significant gains in income under the scenario minimum wage increases. Finally, Arin Dube has estimated that for each percentage increase in the minimum wage, household poverty is reduced by -0.24 percent (2013). Applying this measure of the elasticity of poverty with respect to the minimum wage, we estimate that an increase to $15 would reduce the number of households in poverty by 8.5 percent in San Jose and 8.2 percent in Santa Clara County. 3.3 Demographics of Affected Workers Next, we analyze the demographic and job characteristics of the workers who would be affected by the two minimum wage scenarios (including both directly and indirectly affected workers). Table 4 profiles workers affected by Scenario A in San Jose. In the first column, we display the characteristics of all eligible workers. For example, 58.3 percent of San Jose workers are men and 41.7 percent are women. In the second column, we show the distribution of affected workers by 2019. For example, we estimate that 51.4 percent of affected workers are men and 48.6 percent are women. In the third column, we present the share of each demographic group that will receive a wage increase. For example, we estimate that 27.4 percent of male workers and 36.2 percent of female workers eligible for the proposed increase will receive a raise. Contrary to the common perception that minimum wage workers are mainly teens, we estimate that 95.6 percent of affected workers in San Jose are in their twenties or older and 56.3 percent are in their thirties or older. The scenario will be particularly beneficial to Latino/a workers in San Jose, as half of these workers (50.8 percent) will receive a raise. Workers of all education levels would benefit from the scenario, with less educated workers benefitting the most. About half of affected workers have no college education (51.2 percent) We estimate that over a third of affected workers in San Jose have children (33.9 percent) and 37.1 percent are married. Affected workers in San Jose disproportionately live in low-income families, with 40.3 percent at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Fully 91.8 percent of workers in poor families will receive a pay increase. On average, affected workers in San Jose bring home 48.5 percent of their family’s income, suggesting that they are primary breadwinners in their families and are not providing supplementary income. We estimate that the median annual earnings of affected workers ($18,100 in 2014 dollars) is less than half (35.8 percent) of the median earnings for all workers in San Jose. Affected workers are disproportionately employed in part-time or part-year jobs, and are much less likely to have health insurance provided by their employer than the overall San Jose workforce.10 8.A. - Page 38