Last September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed California Assembly Bill 1287 into law, which includes a $20 per hour minimum wage for fast-food workers and a fast-food regulatory council which has the authority to raise the industry’s minimum wage annually. But between last fall and January, California fast-food restaurants cut about 9,500 jobs, representing a 1.3 percent change from September 2023.
then what are you disputing? People do better employed than unemployed in a high unemployment state. California has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
@wintermute_oregon While that is true, I doubt that most people in #California are doing “just fine”, the state has tons of problems from cost of living to safety.
That is outside of the minimum wage increase. That is just bad government. When I left California, there were things I missed, but it was declining rapidly when I left.
@wintermute_oregon I mean, raising the minimum wage is bad government also. It’s all kind of connected.
I am not a huge fan of minimum wages. Their history is racist and I think they hold the market back. If we didn’t have a minimum wage, people could negotiate better.
@wintermute_oregon Eh. From what I remember, they were definitely needed at the time they were introduced, and I think getting rid of them will lead to the same problem today.
A better practice would be to keep the minimum wage static, and then stop contributing to inflation, although to be fair to #California, that problem is caused largely by the federal government, not the state itself.
They were introduced to prevent black people from getting jobs over white people by having a lower pay. That is the history of the minimum wage.
@wintermute_oregon I’m not seeing anything about that.
This lines up pretty well with my understanding of how minimum wage came about: https://www.dol.gov/general/aboutdol/history/flsa1938
https://mises.org/mises-wire/racist-history-minimum-wage-laws