Almost 80 percent of U.S. workers now earn at least $15 an hour, a 'major shift from pre-pandemic norms'

Waitress serves food.
(Image credit: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

For the first time ever, average pay for restaurant or supermarket workers has surpassed $15 an hour, The Washington Post reports, as reopening businesses scramble to rehire the workforce they cut amid pandemic restrictions and lockdowns.

Almost 80 percent of overall U.S. workers now earn at least $15 an hour, up 20 percent from 2014, writes the Post. Workers in some of the lowest-paying industries have seen "some of the biggest gains."

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
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Brigid Kennedy

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.