At least 19 states and 40 local jurisdictions are set to increase their minimum wage rates on January 1, 2026. But the evidence shows that such increases only end up killing jobs – particularly for young people looking for their first employment opportunity.
While the federal minimum wage remains $7.25 per hour, the minimum wage will soon be above $20 per hour in cities like Tukwila, Washington ($21.65), Seattle, Washington ($21.30), and West Hollywood, California ($20.25). Washington’s minimum wage will increase from $16.66 to $17.13 in 2026, New York’s will rise to $17 for New York City and $16 for the rest of the state, and Connecticut’s will increase to $16.94.
Proponents of increasing the minimum wage have long argued that it is a big win for workers. But in states that have implemented the most dramatic minimum wage hikes, it has been an unmitigated disaster.
California, with its runaway cost-of-living crisis, has long been at the forefront of the movement to increase the minimum wage. In 2024, Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee infamously proposed a $50 minimum wage, citing a study indicating that a family of four needed $127,000 per year to survive in San Francisco. While not quite that severe, the Golden State still has the third-highest minimum wage in the country at $16.50 (set to go to $16.90 in 2026), behind only Washington, D.C. (17.95) and Washington state.
Under the provisions of California AB 1228, the minimum wage for most fast-food workers in California is even higher at $20 per hour. That law was supposed to increase pay for workers. Instead, it led to many of them losing their jobs entirely and to fewer opportunities for young workers to gain valuable employment experience.
According to a study out last month from Reason magazine, AB 1228 has killed about 18,000 fast-food jobs in California. Prior to the passage of AB 1228, fast-food employment was rising faster in California than elsewhere in the country. But between September 2023, when the bill was passed, and September 2024, “employment in California’s fast-food sector declined by 2.7 percent.”
Another report from the California Globe argues that the economic devastation has been even worse. Citing Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the Globe relayed that California has lost a staggering 36,000 fast-food jobs. “In addition to the massive spike in job loss, many large chains, including Jack in the Box, saw them closing dozens of California locations so far this year,” the Globe reports. “Even the SEIU and other unions have admitted this year that AB 1228 has caused job loss in California.”
In addition to simply cutting staff and closing locations, businesses operating in states with high minimum wage rates are also more incentivized than ever to use technology to replace workers. Last April, a new restaurant chain in New York City made headlines for outsourcing jobs to the Philippines via Zoom. Customers are greeted with video screens instead of in-person employees.
As The New York Post reported, “The shops — which specialize in fried chicken and ramen — are taking advantage of the massive wealth gap between New York City, where the minimum wage is $16 per hour, and a Southeast Asian nation where hourly pay is closer to $3.75.” At least one cashier was allegedly working for three restaurants at the same time, cycling through different screens to take orders.
The outsourcing of entry-level jobs is a predictable consequence of New York steadily raising its minimum wage since 2013. Shockingly, however, state and city leaders do not appear to understand how this disproportionately impacts young workers. A June 2025 report from New York State’s comptroller lamented how New York City’s “youth unemployment rate was higher than the national rate.”
In past generations, working the fast-food drive-thru or manning the checkout line at a grocery store were seen as entry-level jobs that put some money in the pockets of young people. These jobs also allowed them to gain valuable soft skills like showing up on time and learning to follow directions from their boss. But now these opportunities are increasingly rare.
“Black, Hispanic, and Asian youth, especially males, continued to face even higher unemployment rates, with young Black workers at 23.8 percent, nine points greater than in 2019,” New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned. While DiNapoli noted that young people “tend to work in lower wage industries,” he placed the blame on “potential federal funding cuts to education and workforce development grants” and COVID-19 lockdowns. The solution, DiNapoli said, is to spend more taxpayer dollars on youth programs.
Ironically, some of the blame for the high youth unemployment rate should be placed on DiNapoli himself. In 2021, he boasted about using the state’s stock holdings in major companies to pressure them to raise their minimum wage rates.
New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani similarly suffers from a case of economic ignorance. The “democratic socialist” included a pledge of “$30 by ‘30,” promising to raise the minimum wage to $30 within the next five years. “When working people have more money in their pocket, the overall economy thrives,” Mamdani said, according to a local news outlet.
Minimum wage hikes have plenty of consequences, from job offshoring to reduced hours, fewer employment opportunities for young people, and closing down businesses entirely. But liberals’ central promise of bigger paychecks for workers remains elusive. Instead of more money in their pockets, many workers are simply losing their paychecks entirely.
Matt Lamb is an associate editor for The College Fix. He previously worked for Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, and Turning Point USA. He previously interned for Open the Books. His writing has also appeared in the Washington Examiner, The Federalist, LifeSiteNews, Human Life Review, Headline USA, and other outlets. The opinions expressed are his own. Follow him @mattlamb22 on X.
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And this is a huge reason why prices are soaring. Did anyone really think that companies will eat this expense increase?
Of course not, they fold it into the cost of goods which means that everyone will pay more for everything. Duh.
It’s amazing just how IGNORANT [or mule-headed] the LEFT is! If restaurants and others HAVE to pay these inflated wages, they will either have to price themselves out of business or lay off a good portion of their workers. Business owners aren’t working out of charity. And it might be pointed out that Leftist politicians aren’t working out of charity, either!
First, even 20$ an hour will not support a family of four, even in lower cost cities. And typically young, inexperienced candidates usually get their first career plan, in fast food. Their training is free, and once trained, and their future determined, they move on into the business world. Raising this minimum wage will not help anyone, IMO.
raising minimum wage leads to less jobs and less small businesses. Not only fast food places but also nice restaurants are being priced out of business. Going to a fast food place for a family of four is close to 50 dollars if not more. A nice sit down restaurant is 50 dollars a person. With Mamdani’s 30 dollar minimum wage he just destroyed entry level jobs and small businesses will be disappearing. The cities will go broke, the states and then the federal government. The communist leaders in the democrat party have reached their goal. America destroyed. Those still working will be paying more in taxes. The seniors savings are depleted long before they die. And everyone one is on the dole. How did we get here? Letting in 30 million foreigners who hold up their hand and Biden made Texas responsible for them. He had no plan beyond saying come on down and handing out Biden T shirts. A typical democrat policy. Oh this sounds good let’s do it. But never look at it what the consequences are of a plan or policy. Remember build back better and all the loading stations that were going to be built for e vehicles. Letting in all these migrants was a way to bankrupt this country. Higher minimum wage is not the answer. Government subsidies is not the answer. Incentives and opportunities are. Only democrats don’t like that they want to control the people by promising them the moon only they end up with selling their soul.
Minimum wage increases hurt elderly, and anyone on a fixed income.
As a business owner for over 25 years, and where employee wages/taxes/benefits account for over 23% of overhead (the cost of running the business) and where taxes and regulatory/compliance and insurance costs account for an additional 28%, government-mandated increases have made it more difficult to stay above water. Increased costs, where possible, must be borne by consumers. This is a reality non-business-owner consumers and politicians know little about. Everything you are buying today costs more BECAUSE of these government mandates.
Minimum wage always “sounded good”, but the repercussions were always bad.
When I got my first job (long, long, ago in a place far, far away,), I negotiated that wage between several potential employers…I was 15. The options were .70 cent or .75 cents an hour…..both employers raised their offers and I elected for 1.05. That was in the early sixties…..anyone who wanted a job could get one….providing they were willing to work and even the “corporate” outfits (including some with union connections) were willing to dicker for wages. Now we seem to think the government is supposed to be our middle man….a bad choice across the board. We are killing businesses, jobs for young people and the work ethic. As long as we expect the government to be our momma, things will only get worse. I know the circumstances are not the same as back in the day, but they could be, and everyone would be the better for it. When the government insists on manipulation of the economy, everyone loses. That’s my take. Nearly every job I had (except for the time in the military) was based on personal negotiation, one on one….it was harder, but I got better jobs,and I think the employers got a better worker, at least that’s what they said. Unfortunately, today’s youth in many ways have no clue how to contact, meet, demonstrate worth or negotiate for their own sake…..that’s the really sad part…..when you consider the future view.
Before the Democrats got in power again and resumed their systemic destruction of the economy, fast food jobs were entry level. To teach young adults about the importance and the requirements of working. After the Democrats resumed their destruction of the economy fast food jobs became a necessary second job for families trying to make ends meet. Instead of fixing everything the Democrats spent their time trying to blame it on Donald Trump
No surprise, upping the minimum wage is doing exactly what many of us said it would… fewer jobs.
No kidding? Minimum wage hikes do nothing, never have. The wage goes up prices follow. Entry level jobs are filled by older non-skilled people and kids are left with less opportunity to learn. Now, if the wage goes to high, the worker is replaced with automation. Supply and demand works, always has. This is especially true after COVID. People became use to not working, depending on federal programs. In some areas businesses couldn’t find enough workers so wages went up, often more than minimum wage. The problem, in my opinion, is that the federal safety net has now become a crutch. People can get by on subsistence and don’t want to work. In an effort to be compassionate we have escorted people into dependency and destroyed self reliance.
Do the demonic-rats not realize they are destroying America? Of course they do. That’s what the party was organized to do!
Minimum wage is just that. For young unskilled, inexperienced beginner. Family can ‘t survive on it nor should be expected to do so. Raise it to 100 dol. and everything will rise with it, we are dealing with mentally handicapped All the illegals needs come before the American citizen needs, let’s not forget that. They are the ones driving the cost of everything sky high and beyond reach. Politicians are well insulated from the facts of life and do not care, as long as they are taken care off. Take the comfort and certainty from them and they will sing a different tune.
Minimum wage started in the 1930’s and shortly after we see inflation start to skyrocket.
Don’t even get me started on unions.
The thing nobody points at is this, the business OWNER who has all the risk in the business, his minimum wage is ZERO. He has to gamble that his employee might actually produce a profit!!!!!!
Raising the Minimum Wage for entry level jobs is a job killer. On the Left-Coast it’s not the answer. The answer is lowering the all important Cost of Living. In Texas, our COL is so low due to lower taxes, lower gasoline prices, and lower food prices, that even someone on Minimum Wage can easily buy goods and afford to pay rent.
Business owners aren’t ignorant. They’re trained to monitor expenses and overhead costs. Increased wages results in passing the cost onto consumers. It also leads to either fewer hours for employees, or replacing workers with AI or kiosks at restaurants. Liberals are so STUPID.
A minimum wage is nothing but a hidden tax on business. Since businesses pass taxes on to the consumer, it is really a tax on the people.
High minimum wage rates make it unaffordable for employers to hire which leaves manly Gen-Z unemployed. It’s one of the reasons that they are warming to socialism.
I am a geezer from a time and place apparently long LONG ago. My first job (from which taxes were withheld) I made $2.35 an hour. In 1980 married, with two kids and a 3rd on the way … I was making $8.70 an hour … and with my now ex wifes pay check (slightly smaller than mine) we bought a house. (that I still live in today). I retired almost 9 years ago at the age of 66, making $16.85 an hour.
Kids now working at Taco Bell are making $15.00 an hour. If I was still working, frankly I would be pissed.
Now to why the workforce ‘needs’ to make $15.00 an hour, on an unskilled job, and still can’t make ends meet? It’s priorities. I bought and buy, cheap sneakers … clothes off the rack, at discount stores or even my local goodwill. I buy used cars, and drive them into the ground, occasionally a new one, that I will own for 10+ years.
The house my wife and I bought? When single, I bought some land, just over an acre, in the desert … Married, I used the land (having grown in value) as a down payment on our house. It still took two incomes to support the house, two cars, and three kids … while people working at Taco Bell for $15 an hour, wear branded shoes and clothes, carry iphones, eat most or all of their meals away from home, and complain about not being able to ever own a home.
Maybe spending habits could help?
I live in LA, and many restaurants are closing because fewer former customers are willing to pay higher prices. Some restaurants, including fast-food places, were in business for over 50 years, and outrageous minimum-wage hikes forced their closure. It appears that Democratic legislators never took basic economics in college.
Magnanimous dems harvesting young votes are responsible for this debacle. It costs them nothing and raises the prices on everything that’s affected by these asinine wages for unskilled labor. Of course businesses have to respond if they’re to remain viable. Blue state politicians are the worst when it comes running anything, so what makes them experts in running small business? So far, the “minimum” in wage means less hours, less jobs or worst shuttered business.
Fast food jobs and the like are not meant to support a family, they are a stepping stone for young people to learn responsibility, thrift and to pay for a few things while in school . Most politicians have never held a job other than the political jobs and are very far from being in touch with reality.
Joe Biden. The mistake that keeps on getting more and more expen$ive. You will never convince me the Dumba$$ocrat$ aren’t loving this situation. And the REAL tragedy is that more and more young people with (thanks to our Dept of Education?) less and less education, life experiences, common sense, ability to listen to old(er) people are gonna be stuck with ‘Mamdani-AOC-Democratic-Socialist style America. Fat, dumb and happy til CHINA takes over, ’cause the USA went down the crapper.
Hide and watch……
I have, for the last 40 years advocated that the minimum wage needed to be stratified for at least two categories of workers–under the age of 21, and 21 or older. Young people simply do not have as much work experience as people at the age of 21 and older. Additionally people under the age of 21 simply do not have the maturity of those age 21 and above. Also, by the time an individual reaches the age of 21, their financial needs simply due to fact of having reached the age of 21, generally necessitates more financial responsibility than youth under the age of 21. For these reasons, along with the societal expectations that financial responsibility is usually significantly greater for those age 21 and over than teenagers should encourage the U. S. Congress to develop at least two-tiered minimum wage with teens getting a lower pay scale than those the age of 21 or older. I believe that this suggested implementation of Federal public policy for minimum wage would help solve the problem discussed in the article above.
There is decades of proof that raising the minimum wage costs jobs and hurts the very groups of people the Leftists who always push for these increases claim they want to help. The Leftists who push for these increases are forever crying that people can’t survive on the minimum wage because it is too low, ignoring the plain and simple fact that the minimum wage was never meant to be a living wage. It is, rather, an entry level wage for teenagers and young people new to the work force. Something like only 1.5% of working people in this country earn minimum wage, so the fuss made about the minimum wage is really a non-issue and is used for political gain by those who constantly push for these job-killing increases by lying to the public and ignoring the truth.
DUMBocrat Rep Barbra Lee has the financial brains of a coat hanger. But her being the most financially ignorant person using up good oxygen, she is not alone. More than 99.99% of ALL DUMBorats are well beyond CLUELESS with just about everything, especially when it comes to making ANY decision regarding the use of money, how to responsibly spend it, or make anything close to a balanced budget.
First of all, Minimum Wage jobs were NEVER designed for OR meant to be family or individual-supporting income. Minimum wage jobs were designed and meant as ‘part time’ work for teenagers still in school, possessing minimum skills, working entry-level jobs in a variety of positions. Such jobs allow them to earn some money, gain some experience working a job and with coworkers, and learning responsibilities such as: SHOWING UP ON TIME, PERSONAL HYGIENE, DRESSED APPROPRIATELY, DOING A GOOD JOB, AND NOT STEALING.
Minimum wage jobs also attract some retired people wanting to get out of the house, do something for fun and still make a few bucks.
But Democrats, with their well-known INFINITE STUPIDITY, have convinced the low-to-no-skills population that they should be making at or near what highly skilled, educated workers make. This extreme lack of wisdom (aka Common Sense) is propostrous and is a MAJOR CAUSE OF LOST JOBS. Businesses running low profit margins to begin with (mainly fastfood and other primarily minimum wage establishments) have only three options to choose if they want to just survive:
1. When faced with the truly INSANE Democrat MANDATORY minimum wage increases, they can either LAYOFF minimum wage workers and or install expensive keosks. (Usually means LOST JOBS courtesy of DUMBorat policies)
2. Pass-on the increase to the customers, (this is guaranteed to lower the volume of sales, which lowers the profit margin even further, which brings the business closer to bankruptcy).
3. Or, simply NOT prolong the inevitable bleeding and just sell the business (at a loss) or close up shop.
Either of the options left to businesses and employers are NOT good ones for either the business, the worker, or the consumer. But this is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENS when you have IGNORANTLY ARROGANT DUMBASS DEMORAT POLITICIANS RUNNING THINGS AND MAKING ASININE JOB-KILLING POLICIES. (And just as INSANE AS THAT IS, you have DUMBA$$ DUMBOCRAP VOTERS CONTINUALLY VOTING THEM IN AND BACK INTO OFFICE. IT’S TRULY AN ACROSS THE BOARD MENTAL ILLNESS,).
I hope they enjoy their wage increase after the company closes and leaves the area and they are without any money at all.
This article provides glaring examples of how far-left colleges produce fa-left graduates who become far-left politicians, who are not smart enough to do math or think about the ramifications of a proposed solution.
It also highlights how the left thinks that people with NO real marketable skills beyond verifying your drive-thru order, should be able to afford a half-million dollar house, drive a BMW, and comfortably raise 4 kids.
I FEEL SO SORRY FOR THE YOUTH OF AMERICA……
Progressive Leftist Democrats ruin EVERYTHING. Their $2B giveaway during covid started it jacking inflation up 9% then keep the pressure on higher prices to elevating entry level minimum wages to astronomical numbers. Democrats ruin EVERYTHING they touch.
Here is the sad of it all, we as a nation have been hijacked by so called immigrants that supposedly became American, they now are in public office and destroying our nation! Americans it is time to get all of them out of our nation. Especially the ones in public office. I say who cares what our communists news networks say arrests all the board members and owner, oh wait they” or some, are owned by hostile nations, the corrupt politicians that sold their sole to the devils of this earth, round them up and put in prison for treason and let them die their and hold future politicians accountable for their actions.
CA is 20 min now
Hiking up minimum wages with unrealistic increases will tank the economy in those areas. I’ve lived through it a few times in N.Y. State!
In the immortal words of Forest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Also, when companies do not pay their employees enough to cover their expenses, we end up footing the bill. Working 40 hours a week should be enough to pay for housing and food. However, these costs are externalities to society at large when companies pay them poverty wages. The company gets to internalize the profits, while our tax money goes towards SNAP or Medicaid. So the theory of raising the minimum wage is actually quite simple – somebody working 40 hours a week should, at minimum, be able to afford the basic necessities of life without assistance from the government. Raising the minimum wage should be championed by small government conservatives as a way to reduce reliance on government benefits.
How should people survive if their jobs don’t pay them enough to pay their bills? What good is a job that leaves you homeless?
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