Blog Posts

April 1 marked the two year anniversary of California’s harmful $20 fast food wage law. While government data shows the hike has cost the state tens of thousands of jobs and double-digit price hikes, UC Berkeley’s union-funded Institute for Research on Labor and Employment is back downplaying the impacts…

This week, several attempts to eliminate tip credits and spike minimum wage requirements were scrapped. In Maryland, One Fair Wage supported a pair of companion bills that would have created a $25 hourly minimum wage and eliminated the state tip credit. The bills failed to meet the state’s crossover…

Chicago’s tipped workers received a lifeline this week, as officials voted to permanently freeze the phase-out of the city’s tip credit for restaurants, capping the credit at 24% of the Chicago regular minimum wage. The decision comes as a growing number of warning signs have emerged across the city’s…

This week, EPI testified on the harmful economic impacts of Maryland’s proposed $25 minimum wage bill – which would also end the current tip credit system for tipped restaurant workers. While bill proponents from One Fair Wage touted a “success story” of their tip credit elimination law in the District…

Automation is no longer a “someday” story. It’s already reshaping how businesses hire, schedule, and produce across industries, and restaurants are no exception. The question isn’t whether technology will change food service, but how rising minimum wages may accelerate that shift. New research suggests that dynamic may already be underway,…

This week, Maryland Delegates heard the first public testimony on a proposal that would raise the state’s minimum wage from $15 to $25 an hour by 2030, fully eliminate the tip credit, and increase the minimum wage every year after based on inflation. EPI’s research director Rebekah Paxton told the…

Virginia is now one signature away from enacting a $15 minimum wage — and potentially losing thousands of jobs and opportunities with it. Supporters say the measure will ease affordability pressures facing working families. However, economic research suggests the policy could worsen inflation and cost jobs, tradeoffs that lawmakers cannot…

Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest data showing January’s inflation rate dropped to 2.4% year over year – down from 3.0% this time last year. Yet as inflation appears to be recovering from historically high rates – a new EPI policy brief shows recent minimum…

In his latest State of the State address, Gavin Newsom proudly touted the state’s various minimum wage laws as promoting “fairness” for Californians. The speech drew applause, but for much of California’s restaurant workforce, the data shows reality has been far less celebratory. California is praised by anti-tip credit…

As a campaign promise, now-Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani pitched a $30 wage for the city. Now, it seems some state lawmakers are taking it even further – across the state. This week, New York state senators unveiled a new proposal to raise the minimum wage to…