From the LA Times:
San Francisco's minimum wage has climbed steadily since voters in 2003 approved a local initiative mandating an annual increase in the minimum wage using a formula tied to inflation. In recent years, the city has also required many employers to provide their workers with health benefits and all employers to offer paid sick time. Critics have derided the mandates as anti-business job killers. But San Francisco's economy has proved resilient. The city's unemployment rate was 7.8 percent in November, well below the 11.3% statewide rate. Over the last year, the San Francisco metropolitan area, which includes parts of neighboring San Mateo and Marin counties, created 3,900 new jobs, mostly in bars and restaurants within the city of San Francisco, according to the California Employment Development Department.... Other academics, though, said it's difficult to make meaningful conclusions about the effects of minimum wages on the experience of a single city. "The evidence is pretty overwhelming that these things do cost some jobs, though that doesn't mean they are a bad idea," said David Neumark, an economist and the director of the Center for Economics and Public Policy at UC Irvine.

For the full story, please visit http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-minimum-wage-20111227,0,151700.story.