Law officials in Los Angeles have approved new legislation raising the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour, thus making the metropolis the largest in the nation to implement such an ordinance as the law of the land.

According to Yahoo, Mayor Eric Garcetti formally signed the bill into law on Saturday and immediately touted it as "a major victory for our city" during a signing ceremony in south Los Angeles where he also declared local families will now have a greater chance of freeing themselves from the shackles of poverty.

"LA as a whole will benefit from this boost," he said. "We have always prospered the most when everyone is able to spend money into our economy."

The law calls for the wage to be boosted to $10.50 in July 2016, followed by annual increases to $12, $13.25, $14.25 and $15. Small businesses and certain nonprofits get an extra year to phase in the increases.

As the stress and strain born of the latest recession continues to dog many, demands for raising the minimum wage are being heard all over the nation as more and more people have slipped below what constitutes the national poverty line.

Seattle and San Francisco have also phased in minimum wage laws that eventually require hourly pay of $15 an hour, or annual pay of about $31,200 for a full-time job. In 2014, Chicago passed a measure that will ultimately raise its minimum wage to $13 an hour.

Currently at $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage has not seen a national increase in more than six years, prohibiting it from so much as keeping up with basic inflation.

On the political front, many Democrats and labor unions have longed called for an increase, only to shouted down by Republicans and some business owners, both of whom contend higher salaries will lead to layoffs and result in less hours and fewer jobs.