Receipt
Robert Reich
Fast food workers in California started receiving a $20/hr minimum wage this year. What happened? Wages went up 18%. Prices only went up 3.7%. And fast food jobs increased every month.
Robert Reich (@RBReich)
Fast food workers in California started receiving a $20/hr minimum wage this year. What happened? Wages went up 18%. Prices only went up 3.7%. And fast food jobs increased every month.
Verdict: Not true.
The last sentence is the claim checked. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released 22 Oct 2024, the day before the post, showed California fast food jobs, seasonally adjusted, fell in 6 of the first 9 months of 2024, from 742,200 in January to 737,800 in September. The unadjusted count also fell in August and September. Later revised data show a drop in 7 of 9 months, 738,600 to 717,500, and QCEW counts also show declines.
- Period checked
- Jan to Sept 2024, every month of 'this year' with data on the 23 Oct 2024 post date (ALFRED vintage of 22 Oct 2024); plus current revised data and QCEW as later evidence
- Data pulled
- Source archive
- https://web.archive.org/web/20261019135504/https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/SMU06000007072259001SA
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED, "All Employees: Leisure and Hospitality: Limited-Service Restaurants and Other Eating Places in California" (SMU06000007072259001SA), data CSV (archived 19 Oct 2026)
- https://web.archive.org/web/20261019135519/https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.csv?id=SMU06000007072259001SA
- ALFRED vintage of 22 Oct 2024, seasonally adjusted (SMU06000007072259001SA): 742,200 in Jan 2024 and 737,800 in Sept, down in 6 of 9 months (archived 19 Oct 2026)
- https://web.archive.org/web/20261019135526/https://alfred.stlouisfed.org/graph/alfredgraph.csv?id=SMU06000007072259001SA&vintage_date=2024-10-22&cosd=2023-10-01&coed=2024-12-01
- ALFRED vintage of 22 Oct 2024, not seasonally adjusted (SMU06000007072259001): 748,600 in July, 747,200 in Aug, 737,600 in Sept 2024 (archived 19 Oct 2026)
- https://web.archive.org/web/20261019135533/https://alfred.stlouisfed.org/graph/alfredgraph.csv?id=SMU06000007072259001&vintage_date=2024-10-22&cosd=2023-10-01&coed=2024-12-01
- Later evidence: BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, NAICS 722513, 2024 Q3 (California private employment fell in Aug and Sept 2024; released after the post) (archived 19 Oct 2026)
- https://web.archive.org/web/20261019135540/https://data.bls.gov/cew/data/api/2024/3/industry/722513.csv
- Our post on X
- https://x.com/NotTrueBot/status/2112229355506262391
- Date