California previously introduced a bold new policy aimed at improving conditions for fast food workers.
However, according to a recent economic study, the wage increase may have led to unintended consequences including the loss of around 18,000 jobs across the state in just one year, as per MailUK.
A study published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) examined the effects of Assembly Bill 1228.
This law made it mandatory for large fast food chains to pay their workers at least $20 per hour, starting from last year.
The researchers found that fat food jobs in California went down by 3.2% while in the rest of United States, fast food jobs slightly increased.
Before the new law was implemented, California's fast food food employment was growing at the same pace as in the rest of the US.
But after the law was passed, which raised wages, the number of fast food jobs in California started to go down.
Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom, said the study can't be trusted because it is politically biased.
She told Fox News Digital that the study is connected to the Hoover Institution, a group she claim has shared false or misleading information in the past about the state's wage policies.
The study also checked whether $20 minimum wage law affected full service restaurants and found that these restaurants also saw small job decline of around 2.12%.
However, the researchers warned not to judge the law based only on selected data and warned against blaming the law too quickly without looking at full picture.
