- Researchers report hefty taxpayer costs for public assistance to help low-wage workers in the fast-food industry. (iStock photo)
BERKELEY —The fast-food industry costs American taxpayers nearly $7 billion annually because its jobs pay so little that 52 percent of fast-food workers are forced to enroll their families in public assistance programs, according to a report released today (Tuesday, Oct. 15) by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley.
“The taxpayer costs we discovered were staggering,” said Ken Jacobs, chair of UC Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research and Education and coauthor of the report. “People who work in fast-food jobs are paid so little that having to rely on public assistance is the rule, rather than the exception, even for those working 40 hours or more a week.”
Fast food is a $200 billion-a-year industry. The median wage for core front-line workers at fast-food restaurants nationally is $8.69 an hour. Only 13 percent of the jobs provide health benefits.
The researchers found that the fast-food industry’s low wages and meager benefits, often accompanied by part-time hours, combine to create substantial public-assistance needs, including:
- Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, $3.9 billion per year
- Earned Income Tax Credit payments, $1.95 billion per year
- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, $1.04 billion per year
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, $82 million per year
To learn the states where the fast-food industry’s low wages cost U.S. taxpayers the most click – http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/10/15/low-wage-fast-food-jobs-leave-hefty-tax-bill-report-says/
To read the companion report authored by Jack Temple, policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, click http://www.nelp.org/page/-/rtmw/uploads/NELP-Super-Sizing-Public-Costs-Fast-Food-Report.pdf
Watch Democracy Now! interview with Jack Temple author of the National Employment Law Project study linked to above –