Comment by axiolite | Hacker News Reader

Comment by axiolite | Hacker News Reader

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The $20/hr wage is only an 18% bump over the normal CA minimum wage, and it came at the tail-end of the pandemic... So A) it just replaced the "hero pay" and B) fast food prices had already been climbing due to supply chain issues, inflation, and veiled corporate profit-taking.

The kiosks were just the threat fast food companies used to try to push-back on the proposed law, and when lawmakers called their bluff, there were some deplyments, but not everywhere, and in general fast food employment has gone UP (not down) since then.

"the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed California had approximately 750,000 fast food jobs, roughly 11,000 more than when the higher minimum wage law took effect."

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/investigations/california-minimum...

I'm not seeing the shorter hours you are. Might be unrelated to wages. There was a general decline in fast food sales across the country (not just in CA) because of the crazy corporate price hikes (which consumers pushed back on).

https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/10/03/californias-20-fast-food-m...

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-10-10/column-the...

I mean, I'm a Housing Theory of Everything guy, so, yea, the high minimum wage here is just part of the over all inflation spiral that is being fueled by the fact that there isn't enough housing for the people who want to live here, in places people want to live. It makes sense that we'd end up with more employees making these higher wages, because it's an inflationary spiral, not a supply-demand issue.

It's just the effects of everyone here trying to address this inflation for folks at the lower end of the earning spectrum, but without actually addressing the underlying issue (god forbid we allow multifamily housing next to major transit corridors), which is obviously the massive inflation in housing costs caused by the massive, near-statewide shortage.

> the high minimum wage here is just part of the over all inflation spiral

Inflation in the west is lower than the rest of the country:

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-annual-inflation-rat...

Even going by CPI, inflation in California is lower than Texas, Florida, Alabama, etc.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/04/09/states-highe...

I agree with you that restrictions on new housing is a big problem, but it is NOT just a California problem.

Looking at the quarterly inflation rate makes little sense when discussing the cost inflation over the last decade and a half.

By all means, point us to your sources that show California's inflation is much worse than all other US states, "over the last decade and a half".

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUURA422SA0

37% increase in the last decade vs about 34% in all urban areas. I see your point.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL

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