Entry-Level High School Students Can Now Earn $20 Per Hour At Their Very First Job In The Fast Food Biz

NILES, ILLINOIS – APRIL 30: A SUV picks up an order at the drive-up window of a McDonald’s fast food restaurant April 30, 2003 in Niles, Illinois. McDonald’s Corporation announced that results for the quarter that ended March 31 and showed a 7 percent gain in earnings per share (before the cumulative effect of accounting changes) on higher revenues. Comparable unit sales have declined. (Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images)

It is no April Fool’s joke, as major fast food chains brace for a spike in California’s minimum wage for fast food workers.

Starting April 1st 2024, all major national fast food restaurants in California, will be forced by the government of the State of California to pay their workers at least 20 dollars per hour, regardless of how efficient or reliable the worker is.

Places like McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc will be subject to the wage increase.

Time will tell if more experienced workers and assistant managers, who might already be making 20 dollars per hour, will demand a pay raise too, lest they end up earning nothing more than the minimum wage of 20 dollars per hour.

If you are not a fast food worker in California, let’s say you work in a retail store or in an office, your minimum wage remains at 16 dollars per hour.

Will stores and office have to raise the pay they offer, in order to retain employees, who can get a job at Taco Bell for 20 dollars per hour.

In the health care industry, workers at clinics, rehab facilities, nursing homes, etc, have a minimum wage of 21 dollars per hour effective in June 2024, which will go to 23 dollars per hour in 2026, and 25 dollars per hour in 2028.