Conversation Starter: Fast Food Wages in California
Daniel Zhao
Chief Economist at Glassdoor | Mar 29, 2024
Starting on April 1, 2024, the minimum wage for certain fast food workers in California will rise to $20/hour, up from the minimum wage for all workers of $16/hour.
While the new law is not applicable to every fast food worker (it is focused on large chains and includes carve-outs for some businesses like bakeries), 78% of fast food workers in California are making below $20/hour, according to Glassdoor data. This suggests that a substantial portion of the fast food workforce stands to see their wages increase as a result of the new law.
Similarly, Glassdoor data shows the median hourly wage for fast food workers in California is $17/hour and the average wage is slightly higher at $17.89/hour. An increase to $20/hour represents a substantial increase for fast food workers, though some higher cost cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles already have higher minimum wages and employers may already be paying over $20/hour to compete for workers.
Methodology
Wage data is based on self-reported pay on Glassdoor by hourly workers in the “Restaurants & Food Service” industry in California from October 1, 2023 to March 28, 2024. October 1, 2023 is picked as the start of the time period to account for the new minimum wage law (AB 1228) passed in September 2023, but effective on April 1, 2024.
Conversation Starters are a periodic series of charts and data points from Glassdoor’s Economic Research team aimed at sparking conversations on timely trends in employee satisfaction, workplace community, the future of work, and the labor market more broadly.
Daniel Zhao
Daniel Zhao is Chief Economist at Glassdoor. On Glassdoor's Economic Research team, he has conducted research using Glassdoor's unique data on a variety of topics affecting job seekers and employers ranging from the health of the job market to pay transparency to employee engagement & retention. His work has been cited in publications like the New York Times, the Harvard Business Review and more. Prior to joining the Economic Research team, he also worked on improving the user experience for Glassdoor’s consumer jobs product and mobile app. He holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard College.
Tags:Labor Market
