Governors Briefs: California’s Fast Food Minimum Wage Increase Helped 730K Workers and An Appointment

California’s Fast Food Minimum Wage Increase Helped 730K Workers with ZERO Job Loss

SACRAMENTO — It’s been just over two years since California increased the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour — helping to create better working conditions and affordability for roughly 730,000+ workers throughout the state. New data show that the policy continues to deliver benefits for working families – with virtually no negative impact on prices or unemployment.

A new study by the UC Berkeley Center on Wage and Employment Dynamics published this month, found that the policy significantly increased worker pay with no impact on jobs and minimal cost increases, 6 cents for a $4 hamburger. 

The study is the most comprehensive look at the state’s minimum wage increase to date, analyzing employment data and pricing information from tens of thousands of California restaurants over the last two years. 

Here’s what the data says:

This policy helped 730,000+ workers. California’s fast food minimum wage increase is a first-in-the-nation policy putting California on the forefront of economic policy.

There is no job loss resulting from increasing the fast-food minimum wage. California’s minimum wage increased wages for covered fast food workers by an average of 11% and did not reduce employment. 

The price of fast food goods did not increase dramatically, despite doomsday reporting. Price increased by only 1.5%, equal to about 6 cents for a $4 hamburger.

This new addition of data updates a previously published study, which showed that not only were there no negative impacts to jobs or workers, but that the industry absorbed any added costs through monopsonistic (higher than competitive) profit margins” which have “absorbed a substantial share of the cost increase.” 

Some recent coverage of the study:

Fortune: California’s minimum wage barely raised prices — and proved economics wrong about job loss 

Capital & Main: Despite apocalyptic warnings, California’s fast food wage hike didn’t kill jobs

The policy is helping increase affordability for working Californians and helping businesses better retain workers.

Gov. Newsom Announces Appointments

SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom April 21 announced the following appointments: 

Maggie Soleimani, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the private investigator disciplinary review committee, where she has served since 2021. Soleimani has been a public arbitrator at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority since 2017. She has been the chair of the Assessment Appeals Board at the County of Los Angeles since 2015. Soleimani is a member of California Women Lawyers, Looking Above and Beyond, and the State Bar of California. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from Polytechnic of North London, School of Law, and a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Economics and Law from Hogarth College. This position does not require Senate confirmation, and the compensation is $100 per diem. Soleimani is registered without party preference.