BEAR, Berkeley Economic Advising and Research

ProjectsCity of Los Angeles

City of Los Angeles: hotel and airport worker wages

The economic assessment behind the City’s decision to raise pay for hotel and airport workers to $30 an hour by 2028, prepared for the Chief Legislative Analyst and transmitted to Council in September 2024.

Heat map of hotel locations in western and central Los Angeles, densest downtown and near LAX
Hotel density across western and central Los Angeles, from BEAR’s interactive hotel tool for the study. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

The question

What would raising the Living Wage for airport workers and the Hotel Worker Minimum Wage to $30 an hour by 2028, with a health-care payment, mean for covered workers, for employers, and for the economies of the City, the County and neighboring areas?

What BEAR found

23,000Workers directly and indirectly affected
$700MNet income added in the City by 2028; more than $1.2 billion across the region
6,000+New full-time jobs in the City; more than 12,000 across the region

First-year minimum hourly compensation rises 31 percent for covered airport workers and 69 percent for hotel workers without employer health coverage. By 2028 BEAR estimates the increases add about $700 million in net income in the City and more than $1.2 billion across the region, with more than 6,000 new full-time jobs in the City and more than 12,000 regionally. Price effects come to about six percent over four years.

Council adopted the increase in December 2024. Ordinance 188610 took effect on September 8, 2025.

Method

Employer and occupational data from Los Angeles World Airports, unions and the City, with BLS, QCEW and Census data, combined with census-tract commuting flows and a ZIP-level input-output model of Los Angeles County, traced cost, price, demand and multiplier effects across 23 sectors and 22 occupations. Workers were placed by home council district, and an interactive web tool maps hotels across the City.

Two maps of the City of Los Angeles by council district showing where airport workers and hotel workers live
Where the City’s airport workers and hotel workers live, by council district.

Public record

How to cite

Berkeley Economic Advising and Research (BEAR) (2024). Amending the Los Angeles Living Wage and Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinances: An Economic Assessment. Prepared for the City of Los Angeles Office of the Chief Legislative Analyst. Attachment B to the CLA report of September 5, 2024, Council File 14-1371-S13.

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