SANTA BARBARA, Calif.— Between going to UC Santa Barbara full time and working at Urban Flea Market on State Street, Devin Larsen doesn’t have much left over to enjoy the perks of living in what many would call paradise.
“I make $18 an hour at Urban Flea Market, and I pay 1350 about in rent every month plus utilities,” said Larsen.
Right now, minimum wage is $16 per hour for most workers.
Larsen says he’s shocked that Californians voted against a ballot measure would have raised the state minimum wage to $18 dollars an hour by 2026.
“I don’t really understand why voters voted the way they did on a lot of things this year. And I it was the first time I really fully been blindsided by some of the things that we voted for, especially as a state,” said Larsen.
Rachel Vallee lives in Los Angeles and is enjoying her time perusing through State Street in Santa Barbara. She thinks the high cost of living, coupled with low wages will continue to push people out of California.
“We both make more than minimum wage and it’s hard enough as it is. So it really just kind of makes you think about who is going to be able to to stay in California and be able to live here” said Vallee.
Critics of the minimum wage increase say it would have hurt taxpayers and small businesses.
“When you do increase that more most often, that cost or that, you know, increase in wage is going to be passed on to the customers. And right now, everyone’s feeling a real scale up and prices rise and everything’s costing more,” said Bart Stevens, who lives in Folsom.