California: 10 thousand layoffs in fast food restaurants due to too high minimum wages
Minimum wages can be extremely counterproductive if applied ideologically.
Nearly 10,000 California fast food workers have been laid off at the new $20 minimum wage , according to the California Business and Industrial Alliance (CABIA), which criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom for the law that took effect April 1.
2009 Banksy exhibition, Bristol Museum
“California businesses have been under complete and utter attack for years,” Tom Manzo, president and founder of CABIA, said in a statement to Fox Business, adding, “It's just another law that puts businesses in further danger ”.
According to Manzo, nearly 10,000 fast food jobs have been cut across the state since Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1287 into law last year.
“Prices can only be increased up to a certain point,” Manzo said. “And we're seeing it. People aren't going to pay $20 for a Big Mac. It's not going to happen."
CAIOBA published this full-page ad in Thursday's USA Today, which includes mock "obituaries" from various fast food chains.
On the other side of the window, fast food has increased absurdly. As FinanceBuzz recently noted:
- From 2014 to 2024, average menu prices increased between 39% and 100%, all increases above inflation over the same period (31%).
- McDonald's menu prices have doubled (100% increase) since 2014 for the most popular items, the highest of all chains analyzed.
- Popeyes follows McDonald's with an 86% increase and Taco Bell is third with an 81% increase.
- Subway and Starbucks menu prices have increased “just” 39% since 2014, the lowest among the chains analyzed. These are also the only restaurants where prices increased less than 50%.
Price trends of various US fast food chains
So excessive minimum wages may simply drive an industry out of business, putting everyone's jobs at risk. How many are willing to accept the risk?
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The article California: 10 thousand layoffs in fast food restaurants due to too high minimum wages comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/california-10-mila-licenziamenti-nei-fast-food-per-salari-minimi-troppo-alti/ on Mon, 10 Jun 2024 08:00:41 +0000.