LA's new $38.35 hotel minimum wage will kill more jobs after city lost 11K hotel jobs in 2024

(The Center Square) - The Center for Union Facts, an anti-union advocacy group, ran a full-page ad imploring the Los Angeles City Council to not adopt a $30 hotel minimum wage, citing state data showing the city lost 11,000 hotel jobs in 2024 despite a growing population.

The $30 minimum wage would apply to hotels with 60 or more guest rooms, and Los Angeles International Airport concessionaires with more than 50 employees, with an additional health benefit payment — redeemable as cash wages for employees with separate healthcare — at $8.35 per hour for employees at covered hotels, and $5.95 per hour for covered LAX concessionaires.

The current minimum wage at impacted hotels is $20.32 per hour, while the minimum wage at LAX is $19.28 per hour. The Los Angeles citywide minimum wage is $17.28 per hour.

The benefits payments and first wage hike to $22.50 per hour would come into effect in full on July 1, 2025, rising to $30 per hour on July 1, 2028.

“The proposed ordinance calls for a dramatic increase in hotel wages within 60 days of adoption. Increasing hourly wages to $24.40 with an additional $8.35 for health benefits would result in a 69% increase in payroll in just two months,” wrote the Hotel Association of Los Angeles in opposition. “No industry can afford that financial uptick in such a short period of time."

According to an April report from the American Hotel and Lodging Association, LA ranks last among major U.S. cities in post-COVID recovery, and with current visitor levels at just 79% of what they were in 2019.

A CUF analysis of state data found the city lost 11,000 hotel jobs in 2024 as a result, and warned in a full-page advertisement on Thursday, the day before an anticipated final vote approving the new wage and benefit ordinance, that “this new proposal will kill more jobs and raise costs for visitors.”

Los Angeles City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez, a former employee of Unite Here! Local 11, the hospitality industry union backing the wage hike, first introduced the motion two years ago and said persistent inflation means a wage increase is necessary to keep workers afloat.

“Overall cost of living rose 6% in the US,” said his office in a news post. “Corporations have seen unprecedented profit growth – the S&P 500 increased by a whopping 43% since we originally introduced the motion.”

“Yet, despite soaring inflation and record corporate profits, low-wage workers were iced out. Not anymore,” continued Sot-Martinez.

Los Angeles City Council is holding a final, likely procedural vote on the motion Friday that is likely to succeed given last week’s 12-3 vote in favor of the ordinance.