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Initiative 82 Backfired On Workers, New Study Shows
January 2025
Arlington, VA – Today, the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) released a new study examining the impacts on DC restaurants of Initiative 82–a ballot measure that would phase out the tip credit for restaurant workers by 2027. The study shows that DC full-service restaurants have lost as many as 4,000 jobs since the implementation of I-82, and 70% of restaurants have cut hours, laid off staff, or stopped… -
New Policy Brief Proves California’s $20 Fast Food Wage is Costing Jobs, Raising Prices: The brief highlights errors in UC-Berkeley’s pro-wage hike study and presents new evidence showing the net negative effect of the $20 minimum wage.
November 2024
Arlington, VA – Today, the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) released a new policy brief that systematically debunks arguments in a recent report from UC-Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE). The EPI policy brief presents a multitude of evidence showing the negative impact of California’s $20 fast food minimum wage, right before California tallies votes for another statewide wage hike from $16 to $18 per hour. The… -
New Study Shows Tipped Wage Hikes Don’t Help Minorities, Women: The new study reveals that tip credit elimination increases the wage gap for minorities, and does not increase weekly earnings for women or minorities.
September 2024
Arlington, VA – Today, the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) released a new study conducted by University of California-Irvine economists Dr. David Neumark and Emma Wohl, which examines how increasing the tipped minimum wage affects earnings gaps for restaurant workers. While anti-tip credit activists claim eliminating the current tip credit system would reduce inequities faced by women and minority workers, the study finds tipped wage hikes have no… -
New Survey: 89% Of CA Fast Food Restaurants Have Slashed Employee Hours: Survey on $20 wage shows employers have cut jobs, shuttered locations, and will limit future growth in California.
July 2024
Arlington, VA – Today, the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) released a new survey of nearly 200 restaurant owners who collectively employ tens of thousands of California employees at hundreds of locations. The first-of-its-kind survey asked about the impacts of a $20 minimum wage. Most have already resorted to price hikes, reducing employees’ hours, or laying off staff entirely. Responses show these consequences will continue to play out… -
Will your favorite Chicago bar survive July’s wage hikes?
June 2024
Arlington, VA – Your favorite haunt may be in danger after Chicago’s new minimum wage hikes on July 1. New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides a glimpse into the employment decline that will result from the July 1 wage hikes. Some background: last fall, the City Council passed an ordinance that would begin eliminating the city’s tip credit by 2028. The effects are… -
California AG Handcuffs Restaurants, Bans Service Charges: California AG Rob Bonta labels restaurant service charges as ‘junk fees’, meddling into business operations
May 2024
California sit-down restaurants have been suffering the consequences of the state’s relentless wage hikes since 2017. The state has raised its minimum wage every year since and is the highest in the country. Local California cities have also been pushing their minimum rates even higher (see a full list here). Now the state attorney general has announced one of the inevitable adjustments to rising wage hikes will no…