The Swiss state of Geneva has voted to introduce a minimum wage of approximately $25 per hour, more than double the highest rate in Britain and more than triple the U.S. federal minimum.
Fifty-eight percent of voters in the canton of Geneva, which the city of Geneva is the capital, on Sunday approved the referendum instituting a 23 Swiss franc an hour minimum wage – the highest in the world, according to Britain's Telegraph, with 42% rejecting.
The measure, reportedly to take effect later this month, had been rejected twice before in voter referendums in 2011 and 2014, but was renewed following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, which amplified Geneva's poverty, CNBC reported.
The city of Geneva was ranked as the ninth-most expensive city in a cost-of-living analysis released in June by the New York-based human resources consulting firm Mercer.
Hong Kong was listed as the most expensive in the world. Tokyo was third and New York was sixth.
"COVID has shown that a certain section of the Swiss population cannot live in Geneva," said Michel Charrat, president of the Groupement transfrontalier europeen which represents cross-border workers in France and Switzerland.
The new minimum wage equates to roughly 3,772 Swiss francs a month for a 41-hour working week, or $4,100.
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