Kaur on if California's minimum wage should be increased

Added: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]I think the question is not just about raising the minimum wage or keeping it the same. It's how are we giving opportunities for people to be able to earn in new and different ways.

[00:00:10]Um, it's not just about the minimum wage. It It goes back to what programs are available to our young people to get to work or go to college. I'm a proud kid of the public schools here in District 16. I'm a public school kid from preschool to grad school. Um, I left and came back cuz I knew I was going to always be here in the Southern Central Valley. But if opportunity is not here for our young people to get an education, to get the training programs, to get good union jobs that protect them, uh, then I think it the conversation is way beyond the minimum wage. And it's more about can young people stay and thrive here, and can families even afford life here? As Mr. Gonzales is saying, it is a cost of living question. It doesn't matter what the minimum wage is if everything is continuing to increase without families feeling any kind of relief. Today families, the minimum wage isn't even cutting it. They're working two to three jobs, and that's the norm. That is not okay, and we need new solutions for families here in the Southern Central Valley. Yeah, um, Ms. Kaur, just for clarification, um, what number do you think the minimum wage should be raised to, uh, to help make it more affordable for families? You have 15 seconds.

[00:01:15]I'm not going to give a number. It's more about how are we making sure that we monitor everything together. This is a cycle. It's a It's a whole picture. If we don't have programs that are going to train our young people to get them to work and keep them at work, if our industries are going to be keep if they keep getting taken away, um, and we can actually keep people at their jobs, then we have a bigger question to solve here.