Another day, another failed liberal experiment that hurts the very people Democrats claim to help. California’s disastrous $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers has destroyed 18,000 jobs in just over a year. This is what happens when big government thinks it knows better than the free market.
Governor Gavin Newsom and his Sacramento cronies passed this job-killing law in 2023, forcing fast-food chains to pay workers $20 an hour instead of $16. They promised it would lift workers out of poverty and create prosperity. Instead, they created unemployment lines and empty restaurant counters.
A new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research proves what conservatives have been saying all along. The $20 wage hike caused employment in California’s fast-food sector to drop by nearly 3 percent. That means 18,000 real people lost their paychecks while politicians patted themselves on the back.
The damage goes far beyond just job losses too. Eighty-nine percent of remaining workers saw their hours cut, meaning smaller paychecks even with higher wages. Another 35 percent lost benefits like health insurance and paid time off.
While the national unemployment rate sits at 4.1 percent, California lags behind at 5.3 percent. This minimum wage disaster is making the Golden State’s job crisis even worse. Hard-working Californians are paying the price for liberal feel-good policies.
The math is simple and brutal for workers who got caught in this progressive trap. Between 29 and 49 percent of their expected wage gains were wiped out by job losses and reduced hours. So much for helping the little guy.
Meanwhile, restaurants are turning to robots and self-service kiosks to replace human workers they can no longer afford. Liberal policies are literally replacing American workers with machines. This is the opposite of what Democrats promised would happen.
California Democrats still want to raise the minimum wage even higher, proving they never learn from their mistakes. They would rather destroy more jobs than admit their big government solutions don’t work. It’s time for common sense economics, not more failed liberal experiments.
