TITLE
Recommendation to direct City Manager to work with Economic Development to request an Economic Impact Report and report to Council in 30 days regarding the 1) feasibility of and potential benefits and risks of implementing a citywide private healthcare minimum wage increase in Long Beach; and 2) to work with the City's Economic Development Commission to take public input and review the study's findings and make recommendations to the City Council.
DISCUSSION
A conversation about raising the minimum wage for private healthcare workers is happening throughout California and petitions are being submitted in support of the increase. An appointment was scheduled on June 6 with the Office of the City Clerk to submit the petition sections to increase the minimum wage of private healthcare workers from $15 per hour to $25 per hour. Supporters of the minimum wage increase state that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the vital importance of low-wage healthcare workers, who work alongside higher-paid doctors and nurses, and are also risking their lives but are undervalued. Since the pandemic, large number of American healthcare workers have left the healthcare sector. The healthcare sector has lost nearly half a million workers since February 2020, and new data suggest that during the pandemic 18% of healthcare workers have quit and 12% have been laid off.
Increasing healthcare minimum wage to reflect the value of healthcare workers may address employment rates by retaining current healthcare workers and attracting new healthcare workers. An economic impact report is requested to study feasibility of and potential benefits and risks of implementing a citywide private healthcare minimum wage increase.
The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired an outpour of public appreciation for the country’s frontline heroes and healthcare workers . Doctors and nurses represent less than 20% of all essential health workers. Essential workers who work alongside doctors and nurses are...
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