Opponents of a defeated California ballot measure to raise the state’s minimum wage said voters made the right call in pushing back against a proposal that would otherwise have resulted in higher inflation. 

Proposition 32, which would have raised California’s minimum wage to $18 per hour, was narrowly beaten back as only 49.2% of voters supported the proposed hike. The current minimum wage in the state is $16 per hour.

Fast-food restaurants with 60 or more locations are already mandated to pay their employees at least $20 per hour.

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A voter casts a ballot during the Super Tuesday primary at a polling station in an American Legion Post in Hawthorne, California, March 5, 2024. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

“Basic economics shows that raising the minimum wage ultimately drives up inflation and unemployment, predictably hurting workers and families,” Republican State Sen. Brian Jones, the upper chamber’s minority leader, told Fox News Digital. “More inflation and higher costs are the last things we need right now. Californians made the right call to reject Prop 32 and protect financial stability.”

Business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, California Restaurant Association and California Grocers Association opposed the measure, saying high labor costs would hurt small businesses. 

Chamber of Commerce CEO Jennifer Barrera told The Associated Press that the economy and personal costs were top of mind in the election, a message that resonated with the voters.

An outside view of a McDonald’s restaurant. (iStock)

John Kabateck, the California director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said minimum wage hikes amid a period of inflation would have added to the current economic woes many residents already face. 

“At the end of the day, this really came down to affordability for Californians already struggling,” Kabateck told Fox News Digital. “People realized a higher minimum wage was not going to make their bad situation that much better.”

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Joe Sanberg speaks at the press conference for first shipment of 3,000 L.A. produced face shields at LA County + USC Medical Center on April 14, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.  (Presley Ann/Getty Images for Emergency Supply Donor Group)

Prop 32 was authored by startup entrepreneur Joseph Sanberg, an anti-poverty advocate and major investor in Blue Apron, the ingredient-and-recipe meal kit company.

“The time is now, because the pandemic has heightened the people’s understanding of the realities so many Californians face,” Sanberg said in his official ballot argument. “Cost of living is rising faster and faster… but wages haven’t increased commensurately.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to Sanberg and various trade groups. 

Sanberg was heavily involved in spearheading Prop 32.

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Jones called the measure a failed “publicity stunt” hatched by Sanberg that was part of “his pattern of misleading Californians.”

“Known for posing as an environmentalist while facing scrutiny for dubious claims, Sanberg shifted tactics by pushing a minimum wage hike and falsely branding himself as a champion of the working class,” he said. “Californians saw through his deception and rightly rejected his Prop 32 that would have decimated our economy.”

Kabateck said policymakers in Sacremento didn’t seem to be in touch with small business owners and voters struggling to get by.  

“At the end of the day, who doesn’t want a few dollars in their pocket? But at what cost?” he said.