California’s $20 per hour fast food wage. First semester grades are in . . .

Photo above - cleaning red snapper, dockside in Florida. This writer once held this job, at below minimum wage. And I have the knife skills to prove it.

Before assessing the accuracy of the link below, let’s assess the sources involved. TND (The National Desk) is a conservative outlet owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. In some markets TND programming gets legitimate time slots, in others it’s simply replaced televangelism and paid programming (half hour infomercials for ProActive skin care and the George Foreman Grill). TND reports originate at Sinclair’s Washington DC headquarters and are syndicated to stations willing to make space for it.

That said, TND's $20 minimum wage analysis doesn’t appear to be bogus. TND engaged the University of California at Santa Cruz to study what happened after the new wage law went into effect. University researchers found evidence of more people going getting hired by some fast food jobs, but lower hours per worker – because overtime all but disappeared. Many restaurant locations responded by cutting shifts, reducing hours, and installing automation. (see link below)

I personally could live on $20 an hour, but only if it was 2,000 hours per year, plus tips. But not here in Tampa Florida, and certainly not in California. That’s trailer park wages. Been there and done that, but not recently. (Plant City, Florida).

California’s governor and legislature recognize that $20 an hour is not a living wage. That’s why they're pondering a new minimum of $30 an hour. Which would mean $60,000 a year if you actually got 2,000 hours. And If no more bots and kiosks are installed. If no more shifts are cut. If there are no more early closures of fast food locations on weeknights. Lot’s of ifs . . .

Fast food used to be an entry level job for teens. A training wage for someone with no employment history, while learning important life skills like showing up on time, not stealing food from the walk-in, or spitting on the a burger for a customer suspected of being a cop, a jew, a muslim, or an Asian. Mickey D’s was NEVER a career.

Other entry level teen jobs were things like lawn mowing. (A truck and trailer hauling 3 zero turn mowers from “Martinez Landscaping” are seen weekly on my block now, instead). Cleaning tagged deer after being checked through by game warden (Pennsylvania). Cleaning redfish and Mahi-mahi for party boat boat customers. Picking strawberries and tomatoes. Crab picking. Oyster shucking. These are all now adult jobs pretending to offer a living wage and long-term security.

Automation cannot be stopped. It’s decimating the “want fries with that?” workers. Uber drivers are watching self-driving cars edge into most lucrative routes. AI is expected to displace thousands of accountants, supply chain workers, data analysts, and other clerical workers.

I doubt if raising everyone’s minimum wage to $30 an hour is going to halt this trend. My mother was a secretary. A job that disappeared about 2 weeks after PCs became ubiquitous in the office.

I don’t know what the future holds for dropouts, GED holders, parolees, art history majors, stoners, and people chronically unable to show up to work on time. But their problems won’t be fixed by hiking the minimum wage another $10 bucks every election year. That only keeps career politicians in office.

I’m just saying . . .

California raised fast food pay to $20 an hour to help struggling employees, but now a new study claims workers are worse off

The National News Desk - Wikipedia

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/california-raised-fast-food-pay-to-20-an-hour-to-help-struggling-employees-but-now-a-new-study-claims-workers-are-worse-off/ar-AA1ZtTHF?ocid=msedgntp&pc=HCTS&cvid=69c6657778674f6ebc683dab3a85c61e&ei=16

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_National_News_Desk

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PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

Part of the issue with these discussions is the dishonest pretense that minimum wage jobs are still first jobs for teens like it is still 1963. And even back then people at the bottom were still getting a fairer share of the pie.

Just to even things out so the income of your average US worker had equivalent purchase power as they did in the 70 American workers would get an extra 1100 dollars a month.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow

it's not a pretense. its a vanished era. the idea that teens should have first jobs while attending high school is a quaint antiquity now. instead they play videogames, are on soccer travel teams, and binge on netflix.

there is no nation on earth where the lowest wage jobs are middle class living wages.

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

@SusanInFlorida It absolutely is pretense. And your own statement proves that. The assumptions this is all based off of is this fantasy that minimum wage jobs are held by teenagers getting their first job like it is 1960.

The last generation that was true for was the oldest of Gen X 30 ish years ago.

This has fuck all to do with teens playing video games.

Look up some actual facts. The majority of minimum wage workers now are over 25.

Heck you can tell that just by going to McDonalds. It has not been teens and 20 somethings behind the counter for decades.

Heck in STEM you need a 4 year Comp Sci degree and tens of thousands of dollars of student debt to get a job that literally pays less than someone working at Target in retail.

This is the reality.

And your last statement just proves that Americans have no idea what goes on outside their own borders.

Outside the US and increasingly Canada too as we follow your example these are the only developed countries where it is considered ok to expect people to work 40 hours a week and still be below the poverty level.

And quit pretending that a living wage and middle class are the same thing and in the US and Canada middle class no longer exists for the vast majority.

There is only the wealthy and working poor with delusions of being middle class because it is easier than dealing with objective reality.

And I don't need an economist or a text book to prove my point.

Economists deal in economic theory and textbooks are written by the same theorists.

The problem is reality doesn't follow theory. That is why I pointed out that all recorded actual economic data proves that minimum wage doesn't impact inflation and never has.

That is the biggest problem with right wing economics in particular. Austrian and Chicago school economics don't take into account actual human beings.

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow i agree that the lots of minimum wage holders are over 30.

bet they wish they'd gotten a high school diploma, avoided prison, and not stolen from previous employers.

PicturesOfABetterTomorrow · 41-45, M

@SusanInFlorida It is the majority now according to the statistics.

And again you are determined to blame poor people for being poor.

As I pointed out in my reply you can literally have a Comp Sci degree and make less than a person at Target.

Hell Starbucks wants a BA to serve coffee.

But you are determined to blame the poor like they are the problem.

Nevermind that that their employers have been stealing their wages for 50 years. That is apparently totally fine.