In yet another triumph of stupidity over common sense, a triumph that is sure to cost jobs, slow growth, and encourage more robotic replacement of workers, Los Angeles’ Minimum Wage on Track to go up to $15 by 2020 

 The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday backed a plan to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, joining a trend sweeping cities across the country as elected leaders seek to boost stagnating pay for workers on the lowest rungs of the socio-economic ladder.

Lawmakers agreed to draft an ordinance raising the $9-an-hour base wage to $15 by 2020 for as many as 800,000 workers, making L.A. the largest city in the nation to adopt a major minimum-wage hike. Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle already have approved similar increases, and raising the federal minimum wage has moved to the forefront of the Democratic Party’s agenda.

The first wage boost — to $10.50 per hour — to take effect in July 2016. 

Some labor leaders have expressed dissatisfaction with the gradual timeline elected leaders set for raising base wages. But on Tuesday the harshest criticism of the law came from business groups, which warned lawmakers that the mandate would force employers to lay off workers or leave the city altogether.

“The very people [council members’] rhetoric claims to help with this action, it’s going to hurt,” said Ruben Gonzalez, the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce’s senior vice president for public policy and political affairs.

He predicted that many businesses would absorb their new labor costs by laying off employees, reducing work hours or moving out of the city entirely.

“It’s simple math,” Gonzalez said. “There is simply not enough room, enough margin in these businesses to absorb a 50-plus percent increase in labor costs over a short period of time.”

Councilman Mitchell Englander, the council’s only Republican, cast the lone opposing vote. In a statement, he said the council action could “make it impossible for entire industries to do business” in Los Angeles.

“The very last thing that we should be doing as a city is creating a competitive disadvantage for our businesses with those in neighboring cities,” said Englander, who represents the northwest San Fernando Valley.

The council plan approved Tuesday would raise wages higher than the mayor’s proposal, albeit more gradually. Businesses and nonprofit groups with 25 or fewer employees would have until 2021 — an extra year — to comply. Some nonprofits that train and rehabilitate disadvantaged workers, such as the homeless or former gang members, could also take advantage of the extension.

After that, yearly wage increases would be pegged to the consumer price index — a key provision of the law that backers say addresses past failures to adjust the minimum wage for inflation. Opponents said automatic pay increases based on inflation would be a further hit to businesses.