SAN JOSE (AP) — Workers earning minimum wage in the Silicon Valley city of San Jose are getting a $2-per-hour raise thanks to a group of university students' efforts.

The city's new $10-per-hour minimum wage went into effect on Monday. The 25 percent increase is among the largest jumps in the minimum wage anywhere in the country.

Voters approved the new wage in the fall after a group of San Jose State University students turned their social action class project into a campaign for the increase.

Their teacher, sociology professor Scott Myers-Lipton, says the students showed that "regular folks" can change the country's economic policy.

Opponents say the minimum wage increase will cost employees' hours or even their jobs.