California Implements $20 Minimum Wage for Fast Food Employees
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law legislation that will increase the minimum wage for fast-food employees to $20 per hour. This new law also establishes a Fast Food Council with the authority to raise wages over the next six years.
“California is home to more than 500,000 fast-food workers who – for decades – have been fighting for higher wages and better working conditions,” said governor Newsom in a statement. “Today, we take one step closer to fairer wages, safer and healthier working conditions, and better training by giving hardworking fast-food workers a stronger voice and seat at the table.”
Before the law’s enactment, the average wage for fast-food employees in California was approximately $16.60 per hour, while the statewide minimum wage is currently $15.50 per hour. But labor groups in the state have spent years pressuring public officials to raise the minimum wage of fast food employees to a so-called “living wage.”
“In general, $20 an hour is not considered a living wage in California,” said CalMatters.org. “For a working couple with one child, that would be $23.81 an hour and for a single adult with no children, it would be $21.24, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator.”
Critics argue that jobs in the fast-food industry are often intended as part-time employment for teenagers and young adults to gain workplace experience and should continue to have lower wages than higher-level jobs. However, Governor Newsom disagrees with this perspective, asserting that it represents a “romanticized version of a world that doesn’t exist.”
“We have the opportunity to reward that contribution, reward that sacrifice and stabilize an industry,” claimed Newsom.
Following this new law, California labor groups have shifted their focus to raising wages in other sectors, specifically healthcare workers. But even Governor Newsom’s administration has acknowledged that a similar wage increase for healthcare workers would cost state taxpayers billions of dollars.
