Arlington, VA – Today, on the first “birthday” of the implementation of California’s $20 fast food minimum wage law, the Employment Policies Institute (EPI) is running a full-page ad in the California statewide edition of USA Today showcasing the detrimental impacts the wage hikes have had on the state. 

The ad highlights the 16,000 fast food jobs that have been “flushed away” due to the minimum wage law, and the fact that the law has resulted in skyrocketing menu prices as well as numerous business closures. To put it plainly, the law “…stinks for workers. It stinks for business owners. It stinks for consumers.”

“The evidence of the destruction by California’s $20 wage law is undeniable,” said Rebekah Paxton, research director at the Employment Policies Institute. “The law has forced restaurants to raise their prices, causing customers to eat out less, therefore triggering restaurants to slash thousands of jobs or close up shop. It’s time for Newsom and the SEIU to cut the crap.”

See the full-page ad here.

To learn more about the minimum wage law and see a breakdown of the economic impacts, please see our brand new policy brief here. 

Topline statistics from the policy brief include: 

• 16,000 jobs have been lost due to the wage hike, according to the latest, best-available Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data;
• These job losses represented roughly two-thirds of all fast food job losses nationwide during the same period; and significantly outpaced the rate of losses for California’s total private workforce;
• This decline is unprecedented: Comparing this year-over-year loss with any year before, this was the only year seeing job losses in the fast food industry in California in 15 years (except for COVID-related losses in 2020);
• Menu prices have increased by 14.5% in California, according to one estimate, nearly doubling fast food price hikes nationwide. 
• After the implementation of the $20 minimum wage law, an EPI survey found that a majority of restaurants say they had raised menu prices (98%), reduced employee hours (89%), limited employee shift pick-up or overtime opportunities (73%) and reduced staff or consolidated positions (70%) as a result of the minimum wage law;

Additionally, a majority of restaurants surveyed said in 2025 they will have to continue raising menu prices (93%), reducing employee hours (87%), reducing staff or consolidate positions (74%), and limiting employee shift pick-up or overtime opportunities (71%).