The Real Impact of California's Minimum Wage Law

The Institute for Research on Labor Employment published a study analyzing the outcomes of the new California. The main findings are:

  • 18% Pay Increase: The new wage policy raised average hourly pay by 18 percent, lifting the earnings of workers in large fast food chains, 90 percent of whom previously earned below $20 per hour.
  • Stable Employment: Contrary to fears expressed by restaurant groups, the wage increase did not lead to job cuts. Employment levels remained steady across the fast food industry.
  • Modest Price Increases: Prices of popular menu items rose by 3.7 percent, translating to an increase of just 15 cents for a typical $4 hamburger.
So, basically, increasing the minimum wage is a win all around. Now, why would people think for a moment that raising minimum wage would suddenly reduce the amount of work that needs to be done? Ultimately that's the driver for jobs. Things need to be done. Companies need to coerce workers somehow into doing these things. So it's in their interests to float these myths that somehow "jobs will be lost". They won't.

As the old science fiction story said, "The Roads Must Roll". And like in that story, employers will do anything they can to convince us to be exploited willingly, and when we aren't, they enlist the government to force us to. Also see the interference of Biden in the rail labor negotiations...

Don't be fooled. Higher wages don't lead to inflation or job losses, they lead to healthier workers. And short of revolution, this is the only way to run an economy.

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