Ferguson Burgess is cooking at the Checkers fast-food drive-thru restaurant on West End Avenue on June 22, 1994. He has been there since the restaurant opened three years ago.
California – One year after California implemented its groundbreaking Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery (FAST) Act, the results are in—and they’re far from straightforward.
The landmark law, passed in April 2024, increased the minimum wage for fast food workers at large chain restaurants to $20 per hour, the highest in the nation. It also created a statewide council to set wage and safety standards at fast food chains with over 60 locations, including McDonald’s and Subway.
But higher pay has come with trade-offs. Fast food workers report working fewer hours than before.
Economists remain divided. UC Berkeley’s Michael Reich argues the FAST Act hasn’t driven job losses. He attributes employment dips to factors like population decline and broader economic trends. Reich’s analysis found no significant impact on jobs at large fast food chains compared to other sectors or states without wage hikes.
But new data from the California Employment Development Department (EDD) challenges that view. In March 2025, the EDD released revised data showing a 3.2% decline—more than 23,000 jobs lost—in the state’s fast food sector from January 2024 to January 2025. That contrasts sharply with a 0.8% increase in fast food employment nationwide during the same period.
Beacon Economics economist Christopher Thornberg cautions against calling the law harmless too soon. “There is no such thing as a costless policy,” he said. “And it’s up to society to figure out if that trade-off is worth it.”
Restaurant owners are feeling the pinch. Kerri Harper-Howie, who operates 24 McDonald’s locations in Los Angeles County, says sales have declined across the board. “That’s never happened in our 40-year history,” she said. To stay afloat, her team has trimmed 170,000 labor hours and cut costs wherever possible—even tracking how much ketchup is handed out.
While some economists argue the wage increase supports low-income families and improves living standards, others say the new data warrants caution. The FAST Act’s true impact may still be unfolding.
For now, California’s fast food sector serves as a high-stakes experiment in wage policy—one with both promise and peril.
