Overview

Raising the minimum hourly wage to $20 is a transformative step forward in the respect, dignity, racial justice, and living conditions of fast-food workers. California successfully championed this advance through adoption of AB 1228, which created California’s Fast-Food Council.

The Roundtable will produce an evidence-based account of how fast food workers and their employers are faring since the $20 wage floor took effect on April 1, 2024. This is an important precedent. Similar protections are needed in other industries, but it is important to know if raising the wage floor has adversely affected employers or the number of jobs. It is also important to identify positive impacts on workers’ lives any other needed improvements in working conditions in the fast-food industry.

Living wages and predictable work schedules are especially important for young workers who are struggling to become self-sufficient. Twenty-nine percent of workers 18 to 24 years old who are employed and holding down jobs are in poverty or near poverty. Industries with especially high rates of working poverty for young adults include:

• Outpatient health care 31%
• Security guards 31%
• Big box stores 31%
• Childcare 32%
• Social services 33%
• Warehouses 34%
• Restaurants 34%
• Religious organizations 35%
• Landscaping 35%
• Education 36%
• Agriculture 46%
• Universities & colleges 48%

Young workers who are gainfully employed and struggling to become self-sufficient have a fundamental right to respect, dignity, racial justice, and living wages. Future work proposed by the Roundtable will document job conditions for young workers and new labor guidelines that are needed to protect young workers.

Some of the industries with the highest rates of working poverty for young adults are made up of organizations that are exempt from taxes because they claim to provide a public benefit. This includes universities, with a 48% rate of working poverty, religious organizations with a 35% rate, and social service organizations with a 33% rate. Accountability is especially important for employers that do not pay taxes to support the social safety net and yet make workers dependent on the social safety net because they do not pay living wages.

Advance notice of work schedules is crucial for having predictable and sustaining earnings. Many young adults have part-time jobs with on-demand scheduling. This means getting one-day or same-day notification of work schedules, making it impossible for them to hold a second job that will boost their income. All workers should be notified at least a week in advance of their work schedules. They should also be protected against abrupt changes in the number of hours they work.

Future work by the Economic Roundtable will support local governments in identifying and equitably remedying employment conditions that do not enable workers to pay for basic necessities. Detailed industry-by-industry and city-by-city information will pinpoint industries where workers are vulnerable and additional oversight and protections are needed to safeguard the well-being and economic stability of young adult workers.