Minimum hourly wage of $15: fast food workers want it; who gets it?
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In dozens of cities Thursday, fast food workers were planning to picket McDonald’s, KFC and other quick service restaurants as they demand a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
Workers in food preparation and serving have the lowest median wage of any occupation, earning $8.78 an hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They’re followed by fast food and counter workers, who make $8.80 an hour, tying with shampooers.
In the Los Angeles, Long Beach and Santa Ana region, that median rises slightly to $8.99 an hour, according to data from Economic Modeling Specialists International. In the San Francisco, Oakland and Fremont environs, it’s $9.82 an hour. The gauge in Riverside, San Bernardino and Ontario is $8.93 an hour, while workers in San Diego and its neighbors earn $9.13 hourly.
People with occupations paying just above the $15 hourly median include the technicians who support health practitioners, medical secretaries and installers of electronic equipment in motor vehicles, according to the government.
Local employers are advertising $15-an-hour positions including a DirectTV retail representative in San Dimas, a credit coordinator in Sun Valley, a receptionist on the Westside and an instructional aide for autistic children in Long Beach.
Breaking the $20 hourly median would put fast food workers on par with surgical technologists and audio and video equipment technicians, according to the government.
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