{"id":2267694,"date":"2024-06-14T07:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T11:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shocker-californias-minimum-wage-hike-leads-to-job-cuts\/"},"modified":"2024-06-14T07:58:53","modified_gmt":"2024-06-14T11:58:53","slug":"shocker-californias-minimum-wage-hike-leads-to-job-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shocker-californias-minimum-wage-hike-leads-to-job-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise! Job Losses Follow California&#8217;s Minimum Wage Increase"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fshocker-californias-minimum-wage-hike-leads-to-job-cuts%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2267694&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>California recently raised the minimum wage for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-california-fast-food-restaurants-at-center-of-criminal-threats\/\" title=\"Report: California Fast Food Restaurants at Center of Criminal Threats\">fast-food workers<\/a> to $20 per hour, a move signed into law \u200bby Governor \u200bGavin \u200bNewsom. This legislation was aimed at improving wages, conditions, and training for over 500,000 fast-food workers. However, the measure has faced significant criticism and backlash from \u200bthe business community which argued that it would force restaurants \u2062to cut jobs, reduce worker hours, raise prices, or close\u2062 locations. These warnings have materialized, \u2063with significant job cuts reported across the state, including major layoffs by \u2063Southern California Pizza Company and planned \u2062layoffs by franchisees of Pizza Hut\u2062 and Round Table Pizza.<\/p>\n<p>Many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/viral-video-barking-mans-bizarre-tirade-over-mcdonalds-pokemon-cards-erupts-in-fist-fight\/\" title=\"Bizarre brawl breaks out over McDonald's Pok\u00e9mon cards after man's viral rant\">fast-food\u200c chains<\/a>, including those\u2063 owned by \u2062Harshraj Ghai, are turning to automation like digital kiosks to reduce \u2062reliance on human \u200dworkers. Mr. Ghai,\u2062 overseeing multiple \u2062fast-food brands, is \u200caccelerating the implementation \u200bof these kiosks due to the financial pressures \u200binduced \u2062by the wage increase. The adverse impacts of this wage hike\u2062 extend beyond job reductions, with fewer new restaurant openings in California and existing establishments closing or scaling\u2063 down operations like Rubio\u2019s Coastal Grill.<\/p>\n<p>Critically, some argue the $20 minimum wage law undermines its intention \u2064to reduce poverty, as\u200d it may lead to fewer available jobs. This debate\u200c is mirrored at\u200c the federal level, where similar arguments exist concerning the effects of increasing the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cbo-estimates-biden-plan-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-15-could-kill-almost-4-million-jobs\/\" title=\"CBO Estimates Biden Plan To Raise Minimum Wage To  Could Kill Almost 4 Million Jobs\">federal minimum wage<\/a>. \u2062Critics and studies suggest that such mandates lead to job losses and primarily affect young\u2063 workers who aren\u2019t necessarily primary breadwinners but need these\u2064 roles for early work experience\u200d and skill development. Additionally, there&#8217;s mention of the historically \u200cexclusionary implications of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/4-intellectuals-who-started-out-liberal-but-ended-up-conservative\/\" title=\"4 Intellectuals Who Started Out Liberal But Ended Up Conservative\">minimum wage laws<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>California <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.ca.gov\/2023\/09\/28\/california-increases-minimum-wage-protections-for-fast-food-workers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raised the<\/a> minimum wage of the state\u2019s fast-food workers to $20 per hour on April 1. It wasn\u2019t a silly April Fools joke, and no one was laughing because the law\u2019s devastating effects on restaurants and workers are as bad as its critics predicted.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, California\u2019s Democrat-led legislature passed the bill to hike the minimum wage to $20 for the state\u2019s more than 500,000 fast-food workers, and the state\u2019s Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom enthusiastically signed it into law despite strong objections from businesses. Newsom claimed the law was \u201cone step closer to fairer wages, safer and healthier working conditions, and better training by giving hardworking fast-food workers a stronger voice and seat at the table.\u201d Opponents of the law warned that fast-food restaurants would have to downsize their workforce, scale back remaining workers\u2019 hours, raise prices, or even shut down locations to offset rising costs. The Democrats and the labor unions brushed aside critics\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-942731386\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b7d12499c833aed2f92df3ec305b7420 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-b7d12499c833aed2f92df3ec305b7420\"><\/div>\n<p>Since April, the critics\u2019 warnings have turned into a harsh reality. Fast-food chains in California, in an effort to adapt to the new regulations, started reducing their workforce last year. The Southern California Pizza Company, for instance, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/economy\/california-fast-food-wage-hike-detrimental-impact-businesses-jeopardy-critic-says\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">laid off around<\/a> 841 delivery drivers statewide in December 2023. The California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA) <a href=\"https:\/\/cabia.org\/app\/uploads\/240604_CABIA_USATodayAd_InMemoriam-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> that fast-food chains have cut nearly 10,000 jobs since Newsom signed the minimum wage hike bill into law last September. These are not just numbers but real people losing their livelihoods. Unfortunately, the job cuts are not over yet. Franchisees for Pizza Hut and Round Table Pizza <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/hospitality\/california-restaurants-cut-jobs-as-fast-food-wages-set-to-rise-eb5ddaaa?mod=business_lead_story\">announced<\/a> plans to lay off around 1,280 delivery drivers this year.<\/p>\n<p>Harshraj Ghai, the owner of 180 fast-food restaurants in California, including Burger King, Taco Bell, and Popeyes, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/california-fast-food-minimum-wage-order-kiosks-burger-king-popeyes-2024-4\">explained<\/a> his struggle to keep up with the changes brought by the new law. He had already raised food prices by more than 10 percent, but there is a limit to how much sticker shock customers will tolerate. Few are willing to pay $20 for a burger at Burger King. About 25 percent of the restaurants Ghai owns have digital ordering kiosks. Before the minimum wage hike, he planned to roll out kiosks in the remaining 75 percent of restaurants he owns in 10 years. But since April, he has expedited the process, hoping to complete the kiosk rollout in the next 30 to 90 days. More kiosks mean fewer workers are needed.<\/p>\n<p>The effects of the minimum wage hike are not limited to Ghai\u2019s restaurants. Employment opportunities in the fast-food industry are shrinking as restaurants opt to avoid opening new locations and instead shut down existing ones in California. For instance, Hom of Vitality Bowls <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/hospitality\/california-restaurants-cut-jobs-as-fast-food-wages-set-to-rise-eb5ddaaa?mod=business_lead_story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has chosen<\/a> to not to open new locations in California and is instead expanding in other states. Rubio\u2019s Coastal Grill, a popular Mexican fast-food chain, <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7.com\/post\/rubios-coastal-grill-shuts-48-locations-california-including\/14907436\/\">cited<\/a> \u201cthe rising cost of doing business in California\u201d as the reason for its decision to close 48 locations in the state at the end of May.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, CABIA <a href=\"https:\/\/cabia.org\/app\/uploads\/240604_CABIA_USATodayAd_InMemoriam-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published<\/a> a mock obituary titled \u201cVictims of Newsom\u2019s Minimum Wage\u201d in USA Today, a poignant reminder of the dire consequences of the $20 minimum wage mandate on workers and the struggling restaurant industry.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d8fa9168556ee9d8811bbcdd39104a0e fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-d8fa9168556ee9d8811bbcdd39104a0e\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Increased Price Creates Decreased Demand<\/h2>\n<p>Democrats could have averted these devastating effects if they had grasped this fundamental economic principle: When the price of something increases, demand for it decreases. <a href=\"https:\/\/alec.org\/article\/minimum-wages-benefits-many-consequences\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Numerous studies have<\/a> demonstrated that the government\u2019s minimum wage mandate has always resulted in job losses for the same workers the law is meant to help. <\/p>\n<p>A recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbo.gov\/publication\/55681\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">study<\/a> by the Congressional Budget Office, for instance, estimates that raising the federal minimum wage to $17 an hour from $7.25 by 2029 could lead to a reduction in employment by about 700,000 workers. Despite claims from Democrats and their labor union allies that raising the minimum wage is an anti-poverty measure, it is of little use to those who are unemployed.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not Family Breadwinners<\/h2>\n<p>It is also disingenuous for Democrats to continue to portray most minimum wage workers as the head of the household who have to support a family with their income. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/davidmarotta\/2021\/03\/24\/raising-the-minimum-wages-hurts-the-most-disadvantaged\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Research<\/a> shows that about 50 percent of minimum wage workers are younger than 25, and they \u201ctypically live with their parents, and many have middle-class lifestyles. While their earnings may be small, their average family income is over $53,000 per year.\u201d Another <a href=\"https:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/features\/typical-minimum-wage-earners-arent-poor-but-theyre-not-quite-middle-class\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">report<\/a> found that nearly 14 percent of minimum wage workers have household incomes over $100,000. These young people do not need entry-level positions to make a living but to gain valuable work experiences and skills. <\/p>\n<p>Will Freeland, research analyst at the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), <a href=\"https:\/\/alec.org\/article\/minimum-wages-benefits-many-consequences\/\">refers<\/a> to these entry-level jobs as career-building blocks and \u201ca direct pathway to better pay; not a ticket to permanent status in the lower-class as some suggest.\u201d However, the government\u2019s higher minimum wage mandates remove the career-building blocks that the young and inexperienced need the most. Consequently, they \u201cdon\u2019t get into the workforce and gain necessary skills to move up because of some central planners and advocates thinking they are smarter and morally superior,\u201d said Carol Roth, an advocate for small businesses, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caroljsroth\/status\/1800011116271358234\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">on X.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-48fdc9eda1ccffb59ef0045f57e82472 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-48fdc9eda1ccffb59ef0045f57e82472\"><\/div>\n<p>Furthermore, Chris Calton, a research fellow in housing and homelessness at the Independent Institute, <a href=\"https:\/\/mises.org\/mises-wire\/racist-history-minimum-wage-laws\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pointed out<\/a> that the minimum wage laws have a racist history. Labor unions first pushed for the minimum wage mandate in the 19th century to prevent railroad companies from hiring black workers. A series of federal minimum wage laws enacted in the 1930s essentially priced many black workers out of the job market and \u201cforced blacks to shift from suffering race-motivated wages to suffering race-motivated unemployment.\u201d According to Calton, the minimum wage laws continue to \u201chave a disproportionately deleterious effect on African-Americans into the present day.\u201d Yet, despite Democrats\u2019 racial justice rhetoric, they continue to promote the minimum wage laws.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Newsom Shields Special Interests<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s evident that California Democrats are not completely ignorant of the detrimental effects of the minimum wage laws. In March, Newsom <a href=\"https:\/\/ktla.com\/news\/california\/these-restaurants-are-exempt-from-californias-fast-food-minimum-wage-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">signed a<\/a> new law to exempt fast-food restaurants on government-owned properties, such as \u201cairports, hotels, event centers, theme parks, museums, and certain other locations\u201d from the state\u2019s new $20-an-hour minimum wage law. In May, Newsom and the Democrat-led state legislature <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/californias-25-an-hour-minimum-wage-boomerang-newsom-healthcare-d86c8515?mod=hp_trending_now_opn_pos1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">delayed<\/a> the implementation of a $25 an-hour minimum-wage law for health care workers because the law would have cost the state government an additional $4 billion annually and worsened the already dire state budget deficit.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats are adept at passing flawed laws and then doing whatever it takes to shield themselves and special interests from the adverse effects of their legislation. What they won\u2019t do is admit policy failures and reverse the course. Ultimately, California voters who want a thriving economy and a secure environment to raise their families must stop rewarding Democrats\u2019 legislative failures by keeping them in power.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4e18a6a27c087bdab469b7894eb97c54 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-4e18a6a27c087bdab469b7894eb97c54\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On April 1, California increased the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 per hour. This significant hike, passed by the Democrat-led legislature last year, was no April Fools joke. Critics argue that the law has severely impacted restaurants and workers, confirming the negative outcomes they had anticipated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":536,"featured_media":2267695,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/5698852597_87ac2fe059_k-e1718214463272.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2267694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/5698852597_87ac2fe059_k-e1718214463272.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/536"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2267694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2267694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2267695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2267694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2267694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2267694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}