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