Despite intensive lobbying from the fast-food industry, the new wage of $20 an hour for quick-service chains with at least 60 locations nationwide went into force on April 1.

The California Business and Industrial Alliance certainly isn’t happy with the legislation. It took out a full-page ad in USA Today in early June featuring mock obituaries for brands it says were “victims” of the new minimum wage.

The CABIA claimed in the ad that nearly 10,000 jobs had been cut between September, when Newsom signed the law, and January.

“Governor Newsom’s bad policy remains indefensible, and workers and businesses are suffering for it,” Tom Manzo, founder of the CABIA, told Business Insider over email. “It is obvious what is happening to the Fast Food industry no matter how Team Newsom spins the numbers.”

The CABIA ad cited data from the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank and unit of Stanford University that aims to “limit government intrusion into the lives of individuals.”

It’s unclear where the Hoover Institution got its 9,500 figure from, though it did link a report by The Wall Street Journal, which said it used state figures.

Business Insider could not independently verify these figures, as data from both the California Employment Development Department and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a drop of about 11,600 jobs when not seasonally adjusted.

The CABIA’s argument was based on a drop in employment between September and January. But BLS data shows that employment in California’s limited-service restaurant industry dips in the winter. In every year for at least the last decade, employment has been lower in January than in the preceding September.

It’s typically at its lowest in January and its highest in August.

The BLS data includes employment at all limited-service restaurants, including those exempt from the new minimum wage.

Restaurants typically hire more workers during the summer months as tourism fuels spending and people spend more time outside their homes.

Seasonally-adjusted BLS figures, which take yearly fluctuations into account, show that employment in California’s limited-service restaurant industry actually rose by about 6,000 people between September and January.

Newsom has clapped back at criticism of the new minimum wage

“California’s fast food industry has added jobs every month this year, including roughly 10,600 new jobs in the two months since Governor Gavin Newsom signed the fast food minimum wage bill into law,” his office said in a recent press release.

The following graph, made using BLS data, shows that employment in limited-service restaurants in California has been higher than 2023 levels for every month so far this year when not seasonally adjusted.

However, Newsom’s remarks have to be taken with a pinch of salt, too. The year-over-year growth in limited-service restaurant employment is a continuation of a trend seen before the pandemic, too, with total employment in the industry growing every year.

And the month-on-month growth in employment so far this year is nothing new. Employment typically grows in the buildup to the summer.

It is clear some fast-food chains have laid off workers in California, including in some cases by closing restaurants, partly in response to the new legislation. Seasonally-adjusted BLS data suggests that there has been a small dip in workers in California’s limited-service restaurant industry — about 2,500 — since January.

However, the BLS statistics suggest that the situation is not as dire as the CABIA paints it to be.

The $20 minimum wage was introduced to support workers in a state with a notoriously high cost of living. The fast-food industry is generally known for low pay, with some workers having to pick up a second job to make ends meet.

Analysts previously told BI that the legislation is also expected to boost wages in other industries, as employers will face more competition for workers.

Have you been affected by California’s new $20 minimum wage? Email this reporter at gdean@insider.com.

Officials in a Northern California community canceled an annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration as an estimated 26,000 residents remained displaced by a growing wildfire, while hundreds of firefighters toiled under extreme heat to keep flames from reaching more homes.

The Thompson fire broke out before noon Tuesday about 70 miles north of Sacramento, near the city of Oroville in Butte County. It sent up a huge plume of smoke that could be seen from space as it grew to more than 5.5 square miles.

Read: Metro burn bans now include Multnomah, Washington, Clark, Clackamas counties

Oroville Mayor David Pittman said there was a “significant drop in the fire activity” Wednesday, and he was hopeful that some residents could soon be allowed to return home.

The fire’s progress was stopped along the southern edge, and firefighters working in steep terrain were trying to build containment lines on the northern side. By Wednesday evening, containment stood at 7%.

“On that north side they have some real struggles in terms of the topography,” Pittman said.

More than a dozen other blazes, most of them small, were active across the state, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. A new fire Wednesday afternoon prompted brief evacuations in heavily populated Simi Valley, about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.

California’s largest blaze, the Basin Fire, covered nearly 22 square miles of the Sierra National Forest in eastern Fresno County and was 26% contained.

In Oroville, a state of emergency was declared Tuesday night and evacuation centers were set up. The evacuation zone expanded Wednesday into foothills and rural areas beyond the city of about 20,000 people.

With July Fourth in mind, authorities warned that fireworks are banned in many places, including most of Butte County. Authorities also cited the ongoing evacuations and damage caused by the Thompson fire for the cancellation of Oroville’s fireworks show, which had been specially permitted.

California State Parks officials said in a statement that many agencies have a large number of resources responding to the blaze and are working to get everyone back home as quickly as possible.

“These agencies also have employees with families displaced by these evacuations who are tirelessly assisting the community of Lake Oroville,” the statement read.

Authorities warned of full legal consequences for any illegal use of fireworks.

“Don’t be an idiot, cause a fire and create more problems for us,” Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea said. “No one in the community is going to want that.”

There was no immediate official report on property losses. An Associated Press photographer saw fire burn three adjacent suburban-style homes in Oroville.

The fire ignited sprigs of grass poking from the concrete edges of Lake Oroville as gusty winds whipped up American flags lining a bend of the state’s second largest reservoir and the nation’s tallest dam.

Residents standing on hillsides watched the orange glow as aircraft made water drops. A crew of more than a dozen firefighters saved one home as goats and other farm animals fled.

The cause of the blaze was being investigated. Red flag warnings for critical fire weather conditions were in effect when it erupted.

“The conditions out there that are in our county this summer are much different than we’ve experienced the last two summers,” said Garrett Sjolund, Butte County unit chief for Cal Fire, during a briefing. “The fuels are very dense, brush is dry. And as you can see, any wind will move a fire out very quickly.”

The conditions led the utility Pacific Gas & Electric to shut off power in some parts Northern California to prevent fires from being ignited by downed or damaged wires.

In Southern California, Joshua Tree National Park officials closed Covington Flats — an area with most of the park’s important Joshua tree populations — on Wednesday because of extreme fire risk after spring rains led to abundant grass that has now dried.

— The Associated Press