Wage stagnation forces fast-food workers into ‘unsustainable’ economic trap

Fast food employees are struggling to bear the costs of essentials and a recent report shows that they must work more than twice the number of many hours such as the normal factor just to bear the meals they provide.

It emphasizes a broader economic issue: “The ability to bear the costs in every corner of the food economy has reached, including those who work inside it.”

In a recent study, LindingTree analysts discovered that employees who gain the ordinary American wage will need to work 21.2 minutes to cover the cost of a leading fast food meal, which is $ 11.56 on average over the largest 50 meters. Meanwhile, fast food workers will need to work for 46 minutes to pay for the same meal.

Analysts used the US Labor Statistics Office in May 2024 to investigate employment and professional wages to collect medium wages for the clock and the years for fast food workers and workers. Compare this for the average wages for all professions, both national and at the largest 50 meters.

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“No one expected to get out of fast food wages, but the fact that these workers cannot even expect the good wage to be worrying,” said Matt Schulz, an analyst, chief analyst for consumer financing in Leningry. “Unfortunately, the situation is unlikely to improve any time soon.”

In the ten American cities, where the gap between wages and a wage suitable for living is the largest fast food worker, less than 42 % of the money they need to cover the expenses of living. They will need to work for more than 70 hours a week to bear the basic living expenses.

In Fresno, California, where workers face the smallest wage gap that is 23 % suitable for living, they still have to work for more than 50 hours a week just to earn enough to cover expenses. Fresno fast food workers also need to work by 66.7 % of people who get the average wage of the region to carry the same food, according to the report.

“The fact that the fast food worker must now work for about an hour only to provide the same meal that they are preparing for the increasing structural separation between wages and the cost of living,” said Charlemeos. “This is not only related to inflation, but rather a rented stagnation, and the script of margins in the food service sector and the work model that has become unsustainable.”

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The worker takes a request in Burger in-U-Out in Azusa, California. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Kelly Bitton, chief content official at the Food Institute, said there are complications to fix this problem, noting that operators are also tremendous pressure on their already their delicate margins.

“We have almost reached the point where there is no ideal answer to pushing workers in the fast food industry. For operators, the cost of food and employment continues to rise, and restaurant chains are increasingly choosing investment in technology such as kiosks instead of paying $ 15 or more per hour, and the rate of wages does not feel the restaurant operators simply from the financial perspective.”

(Sibastian Nanger/Soba/Lightrockket via Getty Images)

In order to better push workers, Biton said that restaurant chains will need to reduce the number of employees who have more technology such as kitchen automation. This would allocate more money to better pay workers.

Biton added: “But I have not yet met a fast food restaurant operator who feels comfortable when paying the price of each hour approaching $ 20 per hour.”

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As of May 2024, the average wage every hour to serve food, drinks and relevant workers reached $ 14.92, according to the Labor Statistics Office. In California, the law was passed last year, which enhances the minimum wage for fast food workers in the state to $ 20 per hour, affecting restaurants that have at least 60 sites throughout the country, with the exception of those that make and sell their bread. Nevertheless, this reinforcement forced a large number of restaurants to increase prices, reduce employees hours and even close some sites.

This comes at a time when the American economy contracted for the first time in three years in the first quarter of 2025, which increased the nation’s chances of stagnation, which is two consecutive quarterly of negative economic growth. The recession is often characterized by a high degree of unemployment, the growth of low or negative gross domestic product, low income and slow sales of retail.