From the article: "choosing a start date of either September 2023 (when the law was signed) or April 2024 (when it took effect) would have shown that the number of jobs had risen."

This statement is literally false if you include november.

The whole bit about comparing employment numbers to the corresponding month a year prior doesn't make any sense. One reason is that the law has only been in effect since April and another is that the employment trends in 2023 in fast food restaurants match trends in overall employment which you can look at here: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/SMS06000000000000001?amp%253...

I suppose arguing over whether this redistributive scheme constitutes a shell game or simply wise governance isn't very interesting.