--- description: A new report shows how fast food restaurants in New York would react to a $15 minimum wage. title: Why Fast Food Workers Might Not Want a $15 Minimum Wage image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd707496b7941f739/69885308524fc0493cdf2f25/178346448.jpg?branch=production&width=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Fast Food](/tag/fast-food/) ## Fast Food Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why Fast Food Workers Might Not Want a $15 Minimum Wage by [Claire Zillman / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Claire Zillman / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 4, 2015 4:36 PM CUT  Fast-food workers and supporters organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) protest outside of a Burger King Worldwide Inc. restaurant in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013\. Fast-food workers in 50 U.S. cities plan to walk off the job today, ratcheting up pressure on the industry to raise wages and demanding the right to wages of $15 an hour, more than double the federal minimum of $7.25\. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images Fast-food workers and supporters organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) protest outside of a Burger King Worldwide Inc. restaurant in Los Angeles, California, U.S., on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013\. Fast-food workers in 50 U.S. cities plan to walk off the job today, ratcheting up pressure on the industry to raise wages and demanding the right to wages of $15 an hour, more than double the federal minimum of $7.25\. Photographer: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Claire Zillman / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Claire Zillman / Fortune Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 4, 2015 4:36 PM CUT The $15 per hour minimum wage is slowing sweeping the country. [Seattle](http://www.wsj.com/articles/seattle-city-council-approves-15-minimum-hourly-wage-1401753432 "undefined") implemented it first; [San Francisco](http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/05/news/san-francisco-increased-minimum-wage/ "undefined") and [Los Angeles](http://fortune.com/2015/05/19/los-angeles-minimum-wage-increase/ "undefined") followed suit, and a sector of the New York economy [could be next](http://fortune.com/2015/05/23/15-minimum-wage-cities/ "undefined"). But a report published Thursday indicates that the state might want to think twice about that sort of hike. [In May, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo empaneled](https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-instructs-state-labor-department-convene-wage-board-investigate-and-make "undefined") the state’s three-person wage board to consider raising wages for fast-food workers, who are currently subject to the state’s $8.75 per hour minimum rate. The board’s recommendations are expected by July and the governor could enact them without approval from the state legislature. How minimum wage hikes affect employment is a [long-debated issue](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-27/finally-an-answer-to-the-old-minimum-wage-question "undefined"), with some research showing that increases have little—if any—negative impact on employment, while other studies indicate that they kill jobs and force price increases. [A report published Thursday by the Employment Policies Institute](https://www.epionline.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/NY%5FMINWAGE21.pdf "undefined"), a conservative think tank, gives additional credence to the latter theory. It surveyed 924 restaurants in New York State that self-identified as fast food operations. When asked how likely they are to raise prices in response to a $15 per hour minimum wage, 86% of respondents said that they were very likely or somewhat likely to do so. Eighty-three percent said they were very likely or somewhat likely to reduce workers’ hours, or reduce staffing levels in response to such a hike. The report said that its results “suggest that the wage board should proceed with caution in its recommendations.” Noah Smith, an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, [argued last week](http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-05-27/finally-an-answer-to-the-old-minimum-wage-question "undefined") that the recent $15 minimum wage increase in Los Angeles should be considered a good thing no matter the research camp you’re in, since it will finally answer the question of what effect a minimum wage increase will have on employment. The jump from the city’s current $9 rate to $15 is large enough to represent “the closest thing we’ll get to a random controlled trial.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3909272/fast-food-minimum-wage-ny/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3909272/fast-food-minimum-wage-ny/"},"headline":"Why Fast Food Workers Might Not Want a $15 Minimum Wage","datePublished":"2015-06-04T16:36:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:55:26.181Z","description":"A wage hike could kill jobs, according to a new report","url":"https://time.com/3909272/fast-food-minimum-wage-ny/","keywords":["Fast Food","pubdesk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd707496b7941f739/69885308524fc0493cdf2f25/178346448.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Claire Zillman / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd707496b7941f739/69885308524fc0493cdf2f25/178346448.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fast-Food Strikes in 50 U.S. Cities Seeking $15 Per Hour","caption":"Fast-Food Strikes in 50 U.S. Cities Seeking $15 Per Hour","creditText":"Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/fast-food/","name":"Fast Food"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3909272/fast-food-minimum-wage-ny/","name":"Why Fast Food Workers Might Not Want a $15 Minimum Wage"}}]}] ```