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# Minimum wage gets a bump up to $7.50
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/minimum-wage-gets-a-bump-up-to-7-50/
- Published: 2007-01-01T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T23:34:23.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Special to the Daily Press*

SACRAMENTO — California workers who earn minimum wage will see their pay increase to $7.50 per hour starting today.

In September, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law AB 1835, which increases the minimum wage by 75 cents today and 50 cents on Jan. 1, 2008, when it will increase to $8 per hour.

“Raising the minimum wage is something I wanted to do for a long time. I am happy that this year, legislators came together to pass bipartisan, common-sense legislation that rewards California’s working families without hurting our economy,” said Schwarzenegger. “Since I came into office, we have added more than 680,000 new jobs, unemployment is down to 4.6 percent, and the state’s revenues are up by almost $20 billion.

“The California economy is booming and now is the time to make sure that everyone is sharing in this prosperity.”

Employers must pay their workers the new minimum wage rate for work performed on and after the effective date of the wage rate increase. Work performed prior to the effective date is paid at the previous rate.

According to 2005 U.S. Census Bureau data (the most current information available): ■More than 1 million Californians earned the state minimum wage or less in 2005\. ■Minimum wage workers made up 6.9 percent of the 14.6 million wage and salary workers. ■Nearly 2 million California workers earned $7.50 or less per hour. ■Young workers were more likely to earn the minimum wage than other age groups. One out of every five (19 percent) California workers aged 16 to 24 earned $6.75 per hour or less, compared to just one out of every 20 (5 percent) workers aged 25 or older. ■Minimum wage workers were more likely to be women (56 percent) than men (44 percent). ■More than half (53 percent) of California minimum wage workers were Latino, compared to 34 percent of wage and salary workers. In fact, one out of every nine (11 percent) Latino workers in California earned the minimum wage or less in 2005.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/010107-13_01.jpg)

(Photo: Special to the Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 1, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/010107.pdf?ref=smdp.com)