This author had to travel back in time for this writer’s vacation, but it also caused sticker shock as well. Consider just some of the expenses that busted my food budget:$ 10.71 for a McDonald’s McMuffin meal,$ 15.93 for a steak burrito ( without sides ) at Baja Fresh, and$ 26.44 for a kebab plate and baklava from a local Middle Eastern chain.
These high prices represent one logical result of California’s disastrous mandate to impose a$ 20 minimum wage on workers in fast-food restaurants. Governor at a time when Americans across the nation continue to experience negative effects from” Bidenflation.” Gavin Newsom, D-French Laundry, has imposed but another higher value on people of, and customers to, the Golden State.
Businesses Cutting Hours — and Workers
It would be unfavorable if a 25 % increase in business labour charges were to be imposed. Certain much, a recent study of Californian restaurants by the Employment Policies Institute demonstrates the harm done to both employers and employees.
Among the businesses surveyed, two-thirds ( 67 percent ) believe the new mandate will cost at least$ 100, 000 per restaurant, with more than one-quarter ( 26 percent ) claiming the law will impose at least$ 200, 000 in costs. Unsurprisingly, just about all of the restaurant owners surveyed (98 percent ) said they had raised prices in response. Nearly 9 in 10 ( 89 percent ) said they had reduced employee hours, with large majorities also claiming they would restrict overtime ( 73 percent ) and trim down their staff or merge positions ( 70 percent ).
Owners also responded that the higher minimum wage would” somewhat” ( 50 percent ) or” significantly” ( 25 % ) reduce employee counts and” significantly increase” menu prices ( 73 percent ). Furthermore,” Ninety-two percent of users think that raising list prices may adversely affect customer base visitors”. These businesspeople also believed that the mandate would make them” significantly less likely” to expand in California ( 73 % ), and more likely to do so outside of the state, or to shut down altogether.
The survey’s findings about the government’s detrimental effects were supported by an Associated Press article from recently:
]Lawrence ] Cheng used to have nearly a dozen employees on the afternoon shift at his Fountain Valley] Wendy’s ] location in Orange County. After a new California rules increased the hourly rate for fast food workers from$ 16 to$ 20 an hour, he now merely schedules seven for each move. ” We just kind of split where we can”, he said. I make a plan for one more people, and then I arrive for the scheduled time while I work the afternoon.
Cheng claimed to have increased menu prices by about 8 % in January to account for the impact of the upcoming authority, but he still has to cut periods to maintain his company. Ditto a Jersey Mike’s owner, who raised the price of a turkey post to$ 11.15, but has even cut his staff matter from 165 to 145 across his nine businesses.
Holidays from Reality
Despite the obvious affects to employees and businesses, the Democrat elites continue to promote the success of the minimum wage laws. The minimum wage mission has been attacked by Newsom, who claims that job in limited-service eateries has increased since the mandate’s introduction in April has been criticized in The Wall Street Journal editorials. However, the Journal just pointed out that work in the affected industries has increased while employment in nearby Nevada’s limited-service restaurants has increased.
And Newsom is quick to discount the mandate’s prices. As the Journal reported earlier this year, a Newsom-founded winery’s advertisement for a vacant busboy position paying$ 16 an hourly rather than the$ 20 that the law he signed required.
During my SoCal stay, I marveled at California’s natural advantages — beautiful scenery, lovely weather, and a can-do nature that made Silicon Valley the fear of the world. Yet Democrat policies such as the$ 20 minimum wage, the” net zero” climate obsession ($ 6 per gallon of gas, anyone? Residents are still leaving in droves as a result of unaffordable housing ( PhD ). Even though I enjoyed my beachside vacation, I was left wondering when Newsom and his left-wing Democrat colleagues would end their own vacation and finally bring the Golden State back into the mainstream of economics.  ,
