The paltry McDonald's pay hike

And what it tells us about the forces that really determine workers' pay in the economy

McDonald's
(Image credit: (Joe Raedle/Getty Images))

On Wednesday, McDonald's joined corporations like Walmart, Target, and TJX and upped its employees' minimum pay.

Now, the hike only applies to the 90,000 workers McDonald's directly employs in the United States. The other 660,000 who work at the company's franchises aren't included. But it still amounts to a raise of about $1 an hour, possibly rising a bit higher in 2016. Moreover, McDonald's employees will also be able to accrue as much as five days of paid vacation — a deal that can still be hard to come by for many U.S. workers.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.