California's minimum wage job killer

 I&I:

The Golden State’s leftist Democrat-dominated legislature loves to grandstand as a champion of the downtrodden and the working poor, even if the policies they enact end up hurting those people the most. That’s certainly the case with the state’s minimum wage hike, which is set to hit in 2024.

The state will raise its overall mandated minimum-wage rate from $16 an hour to $16.50 an hour overall, starting in 2024. But some industries will get an even bigger wage shock: fast-food minimum wages go up to $20 an hour starting in April. Meanwhile, workers in the health care industry will see their minimum wage rise to $18, $21 or $23 an hour, depending on the job.

It’s about time, you say?

Let’s start by saying we’re not against anyone getting a raise. But raises should come from the companies themselves, not from government decrees. As study after study in recent years show, government-mandated minimum wage hikes usually hurt those they’re meant to help.


It’s an irony that seems lost on California’s leftist political class, now in total control of the state, continues to “help” those at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder by making it more expensive for businesses to hire them and keep them working.

Already, with California’s looming minimum-wage tax on fast-food chains in the state, employers are tweaking costs by reducing hours, laying off workers and charging you more for that cheeseburger, fries and a drink that you crave.

Though the calendar says it’s still 2023, franchisees of the Pizza Hut chain have announced this week they’re laying off 1,200 drivers who used to deliver their piping-hot pies door-to-door. With the new higher wages, they can’t afford to keep drivers working.

Pizza Hut isn’t the only company making big changes in California’s massive fast-food market, which employs 557,000 workers at 30,000 outlets.

In order to meet the fast-food industry’s estimated $3 billion in added labor costs from the minimum-wage increase, popular chains such as Chipotle and McDonald’s plan “to pass the costs of higher wages in California to customers by raising menu prices,” The Business Insider reports.

Expect to hear shrieks from the left as fast-food outlets do other things to survive in a state that has one of the most-hostile business environments in the country. (California ranks 48th in the nation when it comes to business taxes, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, making it already one of the costliest states in which to operate.)

Let’s also be clear about something: A minimum-wage increase isn’t a raise for workers, it’s a tax on both businesses and workers. A handful of the best workers will still have jobs, while those who are considered marginal — that includes minority and young workers who have less schooling, less training and fewer skills than others — will bear the brunt.
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Wages not based on productivity are counter-productive for both the business and the employees.  California is harming both.  California should not longer be considered a free-market state.