California’s $20-an-hour minimum wage for larger fast food chains has not led to overall job losses, according to a new report by UC Berkeley&rs

California’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage Sees No Job Loss, Slight Price Hikes

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2024-10-03 02:30:04

California’s $20-an-hour minimum wage for larger fast food chains has not led to overall job losses, according to a new report by UC Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.

The new wage floor, the highest in the U.S., went into effect on April 1. According to research by economists Michael Reich of UC Berkeley and Denis Sosinskiy of UC Davis, menu prices have only slightly increased.

The study found that hundreds of thousands of fast-food workers saw their hourly pay rise by an average of 18%, yet the wage hike did not reduce employment, as industry groups had warned. Menu prices grew by about 15 cents on a $4 hamburger.

“The policy did not affect employment adversely. It did increase fast food prices, on a one-time basis only, by about 3.7%,” the authors concluded.

The results are consistent with the bulk of minimum wage studies, which find “minimal employment effects,” Reich and Sosinskiy wrote.