By Doug Cunningham

California workers being paid the minimum wage are getting a raise today – from $7.50 an hour to $8 an hour. About one and a half million workers in California are affected. The minimum wage increase bill was sponsored by the California Labor Federation in 2006. The labor federation says that while this increase is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t deal with the bigger problem – that inflation is outstripping the minimum wage. In California, a worker needs more than $13 an hour just to meet basic living expenses according to the California Budget Project. Labor wants to see the minimum wage indexed to inflation.