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On April 1st, California increased the minimum wage to $20 per hour for fast-food workers, making it the highest statewide minimum wage in the country.
While there have been numerous news stories about layoffs stemming from the new minimum wage, the lucky workers who keep their jobs will see a large pay increase.
To put the new fast-food minimum wage increase in perspective, researchers at TruckInfo.net analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Labor, and the US Census Bureau. They found the following.
At the state level, the typical fast-food worker will now make $6,430 more than before the minimum wage hike, representing an 18% increase. However, workers in some metros will see an even larger increase on average.
Fast-food workers in California will now make up to $20k more than fast-food workers in other states. Even when accounting for cost-of-living differences, fast-food workers in California will still earn up to $12k more than their counterparts in other states.
California’s fast-food workers now have the highest state-level minimum wage by nearly $4. For context, the minimum wage in California for most workers is just $16 and in New York, $15.
Even most city-level minimum wages, typically higher due to the increased cost of living, are lower than the new statewide minimum wage for fast-food workers in California.
While most fast-food roles do not require a high school diploma, workers lucky to secure a position will now make more than their high school graduate counterparts.
Data on fast-food workers was sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics while data on income by education level was sourced from the US Census Bureau. Cost-of-living data was sourced from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and state-level minimum wage data from the Department of Labor. City-level minimum wage data was sourced manually.