Research Assistant – Sector specific minimum wages, Building Belonging Fellow
Research Assistant – Sector specific minimum wages, Building Belonging Fellow
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June 2025 – June 2026
A lot of the research on California's minimum wage policies focused almost entirely on quantitative labor data, which meant the on-the-ground realities facing business owners and workers were getting left out of the conversation. As a named co-author and Building Belonging Fellow under Lecturer Stephen Owen, I contributed to two working papers that tried to fill that gap. The first, "Let Them Eat Big Macs, Crunchwraps, and Whoppers," looked at the statewide impacts of California's $20 fast food minimum wage on labor, pricing, and consumer behavior, using in-person interviews with franchise owners and independent restaurant managers in Santa Cruz alongside quantitative labor market analysis. It was cited in the Wall Street Journal in June 2026 and covered by CalMatters in March 2026. The second, "Sector Specific Minimum Wages in California: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," turned to a newer and less examined question — how sector-specific wage floors in hospitality are likely to push employers toward staffing changes, hours reductions, outsourcing, and automation. Primary research included interviews with hotel industry associations and cleaning automation firms including ICE Cobotics and ICE USA. Both papers were supported by a Building Belonging Program grant from the Institute for Social Transformation.
CalMatters Article: https://calmatters.org/commentary/dan-walters/2026/03/fast-food-wage-california-effects/
Building Belonging Website: https://transform.ucsc.edu/student-programs/building-belonging-2025-2026-projects-fellows/
Fast Food Paper: https://transform.ucsc.edu/publication/let-them-eat-big-macs-crunchwraps-and-whoppers/
From left to right: Cadence Fisher, Stephen Owen, Kayson Tang
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