Minimum hourly wage of $15: fast food workers want it; who gets it?
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.
ALSO:
Fast-food industry: healthy or just hanging on?
McDonald’s to roll out chicken Mighty Wings nationally
Chipotle, Panera, fast-casual chains continue restaurant reign
Your guide to our new economic reality.
Get our free business newsletter for insights and tips for getting by.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
More From the Los Angeles Times
-
In the Central Valley, the spring harvest is coming, and the transition to Blue Shield is complicating efforts to vaccinate farmworkers against COVID-19.
-
Section 230 has been a ‘brick wall’ for anyone seeking to sue internet companies over user-generated content, but bills and legal strategies under consideration could represent an opportunity to change that.
-
Companies that sell refrigerators, washers, hairdryers or TVs in the European Union will need to ensure that those appliances can be repaired for up to 10 years.
-
Wall Street’s most bullish economic forecasts hang on a simple prediction: Everybody will flood back soon to their local gyms, bars and yoga studios as if the pandemic was in the past.
