A brand new California legislation would require that the majority food-service employees receives a commission not less than $20 per hour beginning subsequent yr.
However a whole lot of pizza supply drivers within the Los Angeles space are about to find Thomas Sowell’s well-known adage that the true minimal wage is zero.
Pizza Hut introduced Wednesday that it could lay off about 1,200 supply drivers in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside counties, CBS Information reported. Pizza Hut franchises are outsourcing supply to third-party apps like GrubHub and UberEats as a cost-saving measure upfront of the brand new legislation taking impact.
The layoffs are more likely to take impact in February, The Los Angeles Occasions experiences, simply weeks earlier than the brand new, increased minimal wage hits.
California’s minimal wage for all employees is already $15.50, one of many highest wage flooring within the nation. The brand new $20 per hour minimal wage applies to all workers of fast-food chains with not less than 60 places within the nation.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the quick meals employee minimal wage proposal into legislation in September. The legislation additionally created a brand new state board, the Quick Meals Council, that can play a job in setting labor requirements and future wage will increase for a lot of food-service jobs.
That the brand new wage mandate is already costing jobs shouldn’t be a lot of a shock. Maybe worse is the unseen prices within the type of jobs that can by no means exist within the first place. Like burger-flipping in a fast-food joint, pizza-delivery gigs are low-level employment alternatives for employees with low abilities or these searching for a bit of further money. Climbing the minimal wage means some employees will earn extra, however different folks will successfully be priced out of the labor market.
“Labor costs account for one-third of fast-food costs, so prices will rise. McDonald’s and Chipotle already have announced higher prices for next year,” Motive contributor Steven Greenhut wrote final month. “For most of us, the higher prices will mean a little less pocket cash and a lot more home-cooked meals. But think about the lost opportunities for people who need them the most.”