Raising Wages to Reopen
- May 17, 2022
- 1 min read
New York State Restaurants Raising Wages to Save Their Businesses After COVID-19
The New York State restaurant industry has been ravaged by the pandemic and the Great Resignation. Nearly 40 percent of food and accommodation establishments were closed temporarily or permanently at the peak of the pandemic. While this was happening, restaurant workers reported decreased tips and increased health risks, customer hostility, and sexual harassment. As a result of these unlivable working conditions, nearly one million workers have left the restaurant industry. One Fair Wage has documented over 3,600 restaurants nationwide that are paying a full minimum wage with tips on top and identified over 500 such establishments in New York State. This report investigates the reasons why restaurant owners are taking charge and raising wages to bring back workers and explains how this is the ideal moment for New York to pass One Fair Wage legislation to eliminate the subminimum wage and level the playing field for all workers.
The fact that it is a wage issue rather than a worker scarcity is demonstrated by the fact that increasing wages in retro bowl order to attract workers is such a feasible and equitable solution.
Raising wages to bring workers back is such a practical and fair solution—this really shows it’s a wage issue, not a worker shortage. Efforts like this can help rebuild the industry more sustainably. Feels like making real progress step by step—kind of like pushing through levels in Crazy Cattle 3D.