Posts tagged $20 an hour
A $20 minimum wage sounded like a win—until these 5 consequences kicked in
June 26, 2026 // California’s $20 minimum wage sounded like a win—until these five ripple effects hit workers, prices, and jobs. Here’s what leaders need to know to design business models that actually work. A recent University of California Santa Cruz study quantified a pattern every leader should recognize before issuing a mandate: When you impose rapid cost change on a complex system, you get unintended consequences.
California’s wage experiment offers warning as Oklahoma weighs SQ 832
April 23, 2026 // These outcomes are consistent with broader trends in California, where years of increasing minimum wages have coincided with declining youth employment and rising prices. Similar patterns have emerged in states like Oregon and Washington. Meanwhile, Oklahoma has taken a different path, one that has allowed wages to grow while keeping costs relatively stable, helping position the state in the top 10 in the nation for attracting younger workers. California’s experience should give all Oklahomans pause. What may be a well-intentioned policy doesn’t produce the outcomes anyone wants—fewer hours, fewer opportunities, and higher prices for the very people it is supposed to help.
California’s fast-food minimum wage is super-sizing job losses
July 15, 2025 // The damage for California doesn’t stop at job losses, as CEI has noted previously. The vast majority of California’s fast-food workers, 89 percent, have had their work hours reduced. Another 35 percent have seen their supplemental benefits reduced. Customers suffer as well. Menu prices for Golden State restaurants rose 14.5 percent between September 2023 and December 2024, nearly double the national rate of 8.2 percent for restaurants. Prices jumped 3 percent in the month after the minimum wage hike went into effect. Americans across all income groups eat fast food, but the core consumers are low-income families according to the Morning Consult. Any price increase is going to hit them the hardest.
Higher minimum wage levels help many workers, but there are tradeoffs
April 7, 2025 // At the same time, a lot of supporters of the increase at the time were hoping this would be really a dramatic, life-changing thing for a lot of workers that would really help reduce income inequality in Seattle. And we see that income inequality is still a big issue. Wages went up, but so did the cost of living. And it's still pretty hard to make ends meet out here for people, even with that increased paycheck.