(U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES – California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger made an agreement last week with Democratic leaders of the legislature to raise the state minimum wage by almost 20 percent by January 2008.

If the agreement is passed by the legislature, the state minimum wage will increase from the current rate of $6.75 an hour to $7.50 by January 2007, and by January 2008 it would increase to $8.

The increase to $8 an hour would make California’s minimum wage the highest in the nation.

The governor said the compromise is a common-sense solution to help increase the wage for working residents without hurting the economy.

Many University of California at Los Angeles students working on and off campus are likely to see pay raises resulting from the minimum wage increase.

Justin Hopkins, a third-year political science student, has worked jobs that paid both above and below minimum wage.

He said that when working for less than minimum wage, “it would have been nice to make more.”

Most Associated Students UCLA employees would receive a 75 cent increase by January 2007 and another 50 cent increase by January 2008, said Bob Williams, director of ASUCLA.

ASUCLA, which employs more than 1,500 students, pays its employees at least $7.50 per hour and said it was already planning to increase wages.

The board had already planned a $1 increase by January 2008, which means it will only have to budget for an additional 25 cent increase.

Williams said that within the context of ASUCLA, the minimum-wage increase would mostly affect student employees.

“There’s no non-student worker who is anywhere near the minimum wage, so I don’t know whether the bill will affect them at all,” Williams said.

The increase is seen as a positive by many students working for minimum wage. But some of those working for a wage that is slightly above the legal minimum are concerned they will not receive a comparable increase.

“I would like to see an according pay raise up the chain,” said Hector Operario, a supervisor at Kerckhoff Coffee House at UCLA, who is paid more than minimum wage.

Hopkins also presented another concern with the increase to minimum wage.

“If wages went up across the board, it seems like prices would go up, so I don’t know how much that would help,” he said.

Schwarzenegger agreed to increase California’s minimum wage soon after Democratic senators decided to drop their demand for annual increases so residents could keep up with inflation.

The governor vetoed two previous attempts to raise the minimum wage. The current amount is higher than the federal rate of $5.15 an hour, but is still lower than several other states.

Copyright ©2006 Daily Bruin via CSTV U-Wire