EDITORIAL: California pols try to kill as many jobs as possible

California’s progressive politicians operate as if they inhabit a bizzaro parallel universe that provides protection from economic truth and the law of unintended consequences. But reality has a nasty way of intruding. Let’s hope Nevada Democrats are paying attention.

The new year will bring a host of new laws to the Golden State, including a minimum wage hike. On Jan. 1, the state’s wage floor will rise to $16 an hour. Three months later, in April, a $20 minimum wage mandate will take effect for employees of fast-food chains with at least 60 locations nationwide. In June, the state will require that health care workers be paid as much as $23 an hour.

The bills were eagerly backed by Big Labor, which has an iron grip on many Democrats in Sacramento. “The two new laws are expected to trigger pay increases for about 900,000 Californians,” Cal Matters reported this month, “some of whom are earning more than minimum wage today.”

The thinking is that, in a tight labor market, other lower-wage employers will be forced to boost pay to attract and keep workers. An economist at UC Berkeley — where else? — told the online news site that hiking the minimum wage will “raise the standard of living” for lower-paid workers and “that is quite significant.”

But if there are no downsides to these government interventions in the labor market, why not boost the minimum wage to $50 an hour? Wouldn’t everyone be immediately comfortable or well off? Of course not. Prices for goods would soar as businesses deal with untenable labor costs. Some sectors of the economy would collapse. Others would eliminate jobs or accelerate the push toward automation.

This is not theoretical. McDonald’s and Chipotle have already announced they will raise menu prices in California, CNBC reported. And just this week, hundreds of Pizza Hut locations in California announced they would drop delivery service early next year, eliminating 1,100 jobs.

“It wasn’t immediately clear whether the new wage requirements were a factor in the move,” the Los Angeles Times reported, “but the notifications said the companies ‘made a business decision to eliminate first-party delivery services and as a result the elimination of all delivery driver positions.’”

There’s no need to call Columbo. Businesses will react predictably when politicians arrogantly believe they know better than the marketplace. Some California workers will indeed get pay hikes under the state’s wage mandates. Others — like the Pizza Hut delivery drivers — will find themselves unemployed. That’s a reality that even well-meaning progressives can’t avoid.