Georgia bill would increase state minimum wage to $15 per hour

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - You may be surprised to know that Georgia’s minimum wage is $5.15/hour, but the minimum wage workers must make is $7.25 an hour because of federal law.

If you ask college sophomore Drew Peljovich, going to school and living in Atlanta isn’t cheap.

“Rent is incredibly expensive, me and my friends are looking at some apartments too and the housing market right off of campus is incredibly high,” said Peljovich.

He says his on-campus job pays $12 an hour.

A $3 pay bump may not sound like a lot but, for some students, it would go a long way.

“Helping buy a little more food or buy some extra gas to go a little farther away,” said Peljovich.

A new bill, if passed, would put a little more into people’s pockets by raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Babucarr Jagne opened The Greedy Bunch in August, bringing West African-inspired cuisine to the heart of Atlanta.

“From a regular person’s perspective, not as a business owner, it should go to $15, I mean it should be more than 15,” said Jagne.

But as a small business owner, Jagne says raising the minimum wage would make it difficult to keep his restaurant in business.

“Since we’re just starting up, if we were to give everybody $15 dollars an hour it would be really tight or not manageable.”

Another bill introduced this legislative session would allow local governments to set their own minimum wage similar to what is playing out in California where the state minimum is $15.50 an hour, with cities in the greater Los Angeles area and Bay Area seeing a higher minimum wage.

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