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"We are seeing a real wage gap. San Mateo may

Nov. 7, 2018 by James Ashley

"We are seeing a real wage gap. San Mateo may be the country's second-largest economy, but it's also one of the few places where the economy is growing at an annual rate less than 1 percent," said Dan Grossman, a consultant at Working Partnership USA, a think tank.

California, which has the highest wages in the country, is the first state to show signs of a wage cut, according to the report. The report found that the state's average hourly wage fell to $12.42 a hour, from $6.21. That's slightly above the city's median wage of $12.25.

But while the state ranks as the country's worst performing under a wage of $12, the country's top performer appears to be Silicon Valley, which recently ranked fourth out of 25, with an average of $6,092.

California has a $11.4 billion deficit from corporate taxes, the report said. The state's corporate income tax rate, now the highest in the nation, rose from 39.6 percent to 41.4 percent from 1995 to 2008, even as the state's corporate income tax rate fell by 15 percent.

"It's a shame that San Mateo and Santa Clara County has a lower corporate tax rate than the US," said Grossman. "This is a sad day for San Francisco Bay Area, California."

"A wage increase would have a devastating impact on employment," said Peter Smith, a co-founder of Working Partnership USA.

San Francisco, which has been in the top 10 in the Bay Area for over a decade, saw its annual increase in wages reach $12.42 during that same period.

The report found that while wages in San Mateo fell by 16.6 percent in 2000, the number of workers who were employed at minimum wage in 2000 fell 5.6 percent.

But those increases weren't enough to keep the state from falling to fifth place. In other words, the state had to increase their minimum wage from $9.45 to $27 by 2012.

The report also found that the state lost $7.6 billion from the tax breaks it enjoyed during the recession. The state's new minimum wage of $11.42 is also a lot higher than the state's current law, which is $12.15 and only required workers to earn at least $8,400.

Meanwhile, the minimum wage for workers in San Mateo, Santa Clara, and other Silicon Valley counties has risen