Beacon has published a new analysis that, for the first time, links a recent surge in youth unemployment in California to the state’s minimum wage hikes. The report finds that California’s recent, and peculiar, leap in unemployment is almost exclusively a young person problem, with 90% of the newly unemployed being under the age of 35 and the hardest hit group being teenagers. The study is the first deep investigation into this data and concludes that the wage floor in the state has been raised to a ‘tipping point’ where the effects are becoming clearly evident. The analysis is able to refute other possible reasons for the state’s unemployment jump, narrowing in on the mandated wage hikes. The study also suggests that the consequences for youth are long term in nature and that the most vulnerable youth, including those from minority communities, suffer the most severe consequences. Given that the state’s minimum wage is set to automatically increase with inflation, and given the November ballot measure to raise the base wage even further, this has become a progressively critical issue for California’s economy and population. View the full analysis here: https://lnkd.in/griV5DMi
Sounds like a textbook case demonstrating the law of unintended consequences.
Paul Duren
3w
Christopher Thornberg You covered this in your San Jose presentation. Amazing how this increase in the minimum wage is impacting young. I wonder if policy makers thought about any of the consequences before inpedmenting.
link is broken
Powerful work, Christopher Thornberg! Politicians scoffed at the notion that hiking the minimum wage this significantly would cost jobs. Oops. Guessing that even more jobs could be lost to robotics and AI-based solutions as business owners look for more cost-effective ways to run their shops. Your comments on the long-term impacts of youth unemployment are thought-provoking...and a bit sobering.