The country’s federal minimum wage remains at $7.25, but a new ballot initiative would bring California’s to $18 an hour. The experts behind it say the Living Wage Act of 2022 would be a boon for about 5 million workers after decades of declining wages relative to economic growth.

Joe Sanberg, the activist and entrepreneur who filed the proposal, said those workers would get an extra $24 a day under an $18 minimum wage — and it may also help ease the worker shortages that employers complain about.