An agreement that will raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 is expected to be unveiled early this week and already has elicited a divide with workers contending the boost could help them keep up with California’s high cost of living, while employers voiced concern about staying solvent.

Gov. Jerry Brown and state labor unions have been negotiating over the past week to increase the current $10 minimum wage in increments over the next six years, a Capitol source close to the negotiations told this newspaper.

Brown aims to announce a proposal Monday or Tuesday, the source said, even as the governor had no comment on the matter. Also, it was not clear whether Kevin de León, president pro tem of the state Senate, or Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon were briefed on the final version. The Democratic leaders of the Legislature could not be reached Sunday for comment on the agreement, but both have been supportive of a $15 minimum wage, which would be the highest in the country.

The source said the deal would raise the state minimum wage in phases, first to $10.50 in 2017 followed by another 50-cent raise in 2018, and then $1 increases every year thereafter until it reaches $15 in 2022. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees would be given an extra year to comply with the new standard.

Under the negotiated deal, once the $15 target is met, future increases to the statewide minimum wage would be tied to inflation. The deal also reportedly includes an agreement that the governor would be able to suspend a scheduled increase if the economy goes into recession, though the threshold for defining a recession was not immediately clear.

If passed, Brown’s proposal could fend off two union-backed proposals to increase the minimum wage to $15. One of them qualified for the statewide ballot last week. The governor’s deal, first reported Saturday by the Los Angeles Times, caught many people by surprise. But it quickly evoked how prickly the situation is: Many support the idea of paying workers more, while others are concerned about the impact on businesses that can’t readily absorb a wage hike.

Carlos Zubizarreta, whose family owns Muchos Restaurant and Bar in downtown San Jose, said their profit margins are already thin given the cost of rent, supplies and utilities, and the proposed wage increase would be a hardship.

“Because we’re a small business, it does hurt us. Prices of items are going to go up,” Zubizarreta said. “Rent is pretty expensive. And it creates a domino effect where people who make more than minimum wage would expect to be paid more too.”

He added that like many modestly-sized businesses, the restaurant will have to consider moves like cutting back work hours to make ends meet.

Zubizarreta has a unique perspective in that the 24-year-old has also worked for the business since he was in his teens and was paid a typical wage, so he also sees the benefit from workers’ perspectives.

“It’s important for employees to get paid what they deserve,” he said.

As the economic recovery has left behind many workers struggling to get by, the dual views on minimum wages clash in states big and small.

Earlier this year in Alabama, the city of Birmingham passed a wage floor of $10.10. Almost immediately the state Legislature outlawed cities from establishing their own minimum wages.

California’s proposal already has prompted strong reactions.

“I’m thrilled,” said Anne Rosenzweig, of Morgan Hill, who as an attorney for the State Labor Commissioner represented many minimum-wage workers. “It’s completely unconscionable that Congress has not raised the minimum wage above $7.25.”

“It’s a good idea,” said janitor Ernesto Perez, of San Jose. He and three adult children at home all need to work — and they earn more than minimum wage — to make ends meet. “If I were working by myself, we couldn’t get by.”

Luis Lan, a 25-year-old San Jose State student who said he works on campus for a bit over minimum wage, offered general support for the proposed increase. But he also questioned how effective it would be in tackling the high cost of living in the Bay Area.

“It’s good in a sense because it’s so expensive to live here. But by 2022, it might not be enough,” Lan said, adding that a wage increase needs to be accompanied by efforts to make housing more affordable in the region.

Andrea Servari, a 24-year-old San Jose State graduate student, said he believes a minimum-wage boost “would definitely help many people to survive,” but he worried about the effect it would have on small businesses.

Other business owners said the prospective wage requirement doesn’t fully consider how much workers truly earn once hourly tips are factored. Selwyn Yosslowitz, president of Southland restaurant chain Marmalade Café, told the Los Angeles Times that his servers can multiply their hourly pay with tips.

“So you are paying $15 an hour to someone who is already making $25, $30 an hour,” he said. “The problem we have is that they don’t take into consideration the total compensation our service staff are already making.”

Zubizarreta, whose family owns Muchos, was at least glad to see that the proposed $15 wage would be gradually instituted, which he said gives his family time to plan. And hope.

“It motivates us to try and make more money. San Jose is getting hotter,” he said, alluding to how the area has played part-host to a Super Bowl, boasts the new Avaya Stadium and is seeing new high-rise housing get built. “But it also means we’re going to have to work harder than we already are.”

Staff writer Sharon Noguchi and the Los Angeles Times contributed to this story.