Starting Wednesday, thousands of California health care workers — including technicians, housekeepers, and food service staff — will see a pay increase under a new law aimed at tackling worker shortages, reducing turnover and improving patient care.
Signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October 2023, the law gradually raises wages to $25 an hour, with timelines varying by employer type and size.
Laurel Lucia is one of the authors of a UC Berkeley Labor Center report that shows three out of four workers benefiting from Senate Bill 525 are women and people of color and nearly half are Latino.
She said the law is designed to reduce reliance on public aid.
“We estimated that nearly half of low wage health care workers are enrolled in a public safety net program or their family members are enrolled which just underscores how low some of these wages have been,” Lucia said.
Advocates say the bill also aims to address the health care worker shortage following the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a 2022 SEIU union survey, 83% of health care workers said their department was understaffed.
John Ahlquist, a professor of political economy at UC San Diego, said part of what the law is trying to address is future health care needs.
“It's not something you can fix overnight, or even during one election cycle. We have to build the infrastructure now to make sure that there are nurses, aides, and home health care workers, and all the various people that help take care of the elderly. And that's going to be a growing problem as the baby boomers get older, retire and so forth,” Alquist explained.
Research links higher pay, lower turnover and better staffing levels to improved patient care. While the law promises long-term benefits, Ahlquist said it will take time to see its full impact.
“I doubt you'll see any immediate changes in quality of care or accessibility to doctors or nurse practitioners or other health service providers,” he said.
Advocates said the rollout of this law caused confusion. Some employers provided raises by the original June 1 deadline. Others will start the pay boost Oct. 16.
