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."

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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.