A popular job among immigrants has increased the minimum wage: food delivery workers now earn from $19 an hour

New York City Hall announced new promotion salaries. Delivery workers in the Big Apple will now earn $19 an hour. But, as reported Gothamist, although wages have increased, tips have decreased.

Delivery workers have been pushing for higher minimum wage standards for their work for years. They previously earned an average of $5,39 an hour, excluding tips. Couriers will now receive a minimum of $19,56 per hour as part of law 2021, which sets higher wages. In April 2025, their salaries will increase by another dollar.

“This will help us economically, we will be able to pay rent,” said Antonio Solis, a delivery worker with five years of experience. “With inflation, everything is becoming more expensive in New York, so it’s important that workers pay higher wages.”

DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber hire workers as independent contractors, meaning that before the city rule, these people were not protected by federal or state minimum wage laws.

Protecting workers' rights

The workers, who formed the collective Los Deliveristas Unidos during the pandemic, say they have had to work 8 to 10 hours a day in snow, extreme heat or braving traffic jams to earn as little as $40 a day.

“It was like begging,” said Rosario Reyes, another delivery worker. We used to work a lot for little money, but now it helps us survive.”

Reyes says her salary has doubled, from $400 a week to $800.

On the subject: Delivery services in New York have introduced new rules and increased fees for orders.

The law was adopted in 2021, but last year four companies filed a claimto block its implementation. They argued that the new pay scale would hurt their business. But the judge sided with the city, and the law took effect. Last year, the hourly rate, excluding tips, was set at $17,96. This was the first of several salary increases under the new minimum wage rule.

“We depend on our couriers to deliver food to us around the clock,” City Manager Eric Adams said at a news conference at City Hall. – If you wake up in the middle of the night and want a snack, you can call a courier. What a lot of people don't realize is that when we legalized marijuana, people want a snack. And so they call at any time of the day to have food delivered to them.”

He noted that delivery workers supported New Yorkers and their families during the worst days of the pandemic, and now the city is helping them provide for their families.

The mayor's office said city apps have been paying delivery workers $16,3 more per week since the minimum hourly wage was established. The increase is approximately 165%. The Adams administration said there was no impact on customers or restaurants as the number of deliveries remained the same at 2,6 million per week.

Where did the tips go?

“This hard-earned money goes to the mothers, fathers, children living in our communities. They will now finally be able to receive additional income to pay rent, as well as afford food and live in our beautiful city,” emphasized Ligia Gualpa, executive director of the project Workers' Justice Project, which advocated for stronger worker protections.

According to her, companies that work with apps make it more difficult to calculate tips. In recent months, they have begun disconnecting their employees from their accounts for unexplained reasons. Workers confirm that wages have increased and tips have decreased.

Representatives for Uber, GrubHub and DoorDash said they would enforce minimum pay rates. The companies admitted that after the new rules came into force, they had to limit the number of workers who had access to the applications and change the way they pay tips. They said such measures are necessary to cover new operating costs.

DoorDash now only allows tipping after an order is placed, which a spokesperson said was necessary because the company had to increase its customer service fees. GrubHub added that the company has not deactivated employee accounts en masse, but any employee with a deactivated account can file appeal online.