With 16,000 Lost Fast Food Jobs, New Ad Blasts California’s ‘Crappiest Law’

“The minimum wage law very cleverly is misnamed,” Economist Thomas Sowell said. “The real minimum wage is zero. That is what many inexperienced and low skilled people receive as a result of legislation that makes it illegal to pay them what they are currently worth to an employer.”

Proof of this is California’s recent $20 per hour fast food minimum wage. Since the passage of AB 1228 to increase the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour, 16,000 fast food jobs have been lost, and fast food prices are up more than 14.5%.

AB 1228 was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom September 28, 2023, creating the new $20 minimum wage for fast food employees – a massive 25% increase from the $16 minimum wage.

High minimum wages harm California’s least skilled and least experienced workers the most, as they are no more productive, but are significantly more expensive, resulting in harms to the business owners as well.

The Employment Policies Institute has been reporting on this boneheaded move by California’s Democrat supermajority Legislature and Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom. And now we have a lovely graphic to go with the bad news.

This is what the Employment Policies Institute says about this:

Tomorrow, on the first “birthday” of the implementation of California’s $20 fast food minimum wage law, the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) will run a full-page ad in the California statewide edition of USA Today showcasing the detrimental impacts the wage hikes have had on the state.

The ad highlights the 16,000 fast food jobs that have been “flushed away” due to the minimum wage law, and the fact that the law has resulted in skyrocketing menu prices as well as numerous business closures. To put it plainly, the law “…stinks for workers. It stinks for business owners. It stinks for consumers.”

“The evidence of the destruction by California’s $20 wage law is undeniable,” said Rebekah Paxton, research director at the Employment Policies Institute. “The law has forced restaurants to raise their prices, causing customers to eat out less, therefore triggering restaurants to slash thousands of jobs or close up shop. It’s time for Newsom and the SEIU to cut the crap.”

See the full page ad here.