Is California’s fast food industry losing jobs or creating them?
Business groups and some policy experts have regularly criticized California’s new $20 minimum wage law for fast food workers, calling it job destroyer.
Now Governor of California Gavin NewsomThe ‘s office highlights figures indicating that the opposite may be true.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, California’s fast-food industry has added 10,600 new jobs since Assembly Bill 1228 went into effect on April 1 and about 20,700 jobs since the beginning of the year. For comparison, the industry employs about 745,000 people in the Golden State.
Newsom briefly addressed the topic during Tuesday’s State of the State address.
“All of our progress on higher wages and better benefits for workers is not just about the hourly rate of pay. It’s about building a future that is dignified and respectful where everyone is included in our growth,” Newsom said. “We are a state that cares about fast food workers — who are predominantly women — who work two and a half jobs to survive.”
Fast Food Jobs in California
In early June, the California Business and Industrial Alliance placed a full-page ad in USA Today claiming that the state’s fast-food industry had lost nearly 10,000 jobs since Newsom signed the law in September 2023, before the wage increase was required.
The ad featured fictitious obituaries for chains including Rubio’s, Pizza Hut and Fosters Freeze, which have either cut jobs or reported other financial problems in recent months.
“Rapid job losses, rising prices and business closures are a direct result of Governor Newsom and this short-sighted legislation,” CABIA said in a press release at the time.
Iconic Hollywood fast-food restaurant closes its doors for good
According to BLS data, California’s fast food industry actually lost about 9,500 jobs between September and the end of the year, but that trend has since reversed — or has it. ?
KTLA reached out to CABIA for a response to Newsom’s statement. It provided another data source, this one from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, showing that California has shed 2,500 fast food jobs since January, on a seasonally adjusted basis. However, the total number of jobs remained broadly flat in April and May.
“Newsom has no shame,” a Business Alliance spokesperson insisted. “His bad policies remain indefensible, and workers and businesses are suffering as a result.”
More tangible to customers than labor statistics, the real cost of fast food has generally increased since the minimum wage law took effect. Fast food chains have increased menu prices by about 10% since April 1, according to a report from market research firm Datassential.
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