Here’s Where Hotel + Airport Workers Will Soon Be Making $30/Hour

The federal minimum wage is still set at $7.25 an hour. At that rate, even working 40 hours a week, you would have a hard time surviving in America.

According to Nation’s Restaurant News, the Los Angeles City Council just approved raising the minimum wage incrementally to $30 for the city’s hotel and airport workers by 2028.

This covers all workers that are in any department of the airport or hotels where they are employed.

Why Is Los Angeles Increasing Minimum Wage for Airport and Hotel Workers?

Well, in part because of the 2028 Summer Olympics that are coming to Los Angeles.

That is why this wage hike has been deemed “The Olympic Wage,” because it’s meant to juice up the tourism workforce as the city prepares to host not only the Olympics, but several major international sporting events over the next several years.

There will be millions of tourists flocking to L.A. during that time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Summer Olympics.

That’s in addition to the tourists who already go just to see Hollywood.

Here’s how the wage hike will play out in California. It’ll start with a hike to $22.50 on Feb. 1, 2025. Then, it’ll increase to $25 in 2026, $27 in 2027, and $30 per hour by 2028.

California has been on the forefront of trying to raise minimum wages for certain fields of workers.

In April of 2024, California raised its fast-food minimum wage to $20 an hour, and that caused some restaurant locations to have to shut down due to rising operational costs.

It will be interesting to see if the impending wage hikes will disrupt the revenue streams of the companies that will have to pay the new wages once they kick in.