Being a gig worker for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Walmart Spark, and other apps came with opportunities and lots of challenges in 2024.

Research from the UC Berkeley Labor Center and the Center for Wage and Employment Dynamics suggests even with these guarantees in place, drivers in Los Angeles and San Francisco had net hourly earnings well below minimum wage, even with tips.

Research shows that drivers across six ride-hailing and delivery platforms earned well below the local minimum wage after accounting for expenses, even with tips included.

In an analysis of 52,370 trips by 1,088 drivers in the Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay, and Seattle metros in January 2022, researchers at the UC Berkeley Labor Center and the Center for Wage and Employment Dynamics found drivers across six ride-hailing and delivery platforms often earned less than the local minimum wage, including with tips, after expenses like gas.

The raise would also save you money: A 2021 study from the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that low wages cost taxpayers $100 billion annually, because people earning those wages have to depend on social programs like SNAP and Medicaid.

A Massachusetts proposition put forward by gig-economy companies including Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash could result in drivers and riders taking home just a quarter of the hourly minimum wage, a study from UC-Berkeley says.

Ken Jacobs, the chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center, told Insider in March that one of the main attacks from opponents of a minimum wage is that it could help large businesses at the expense of small businesses.

Fast-food workers in LA County are “especially vulnerable” to COVID-19 community transmission. They often face unmasked customers and unsafe workplaces. Workers aren’t protected when they speak up, and some are even punished, researchers wrote.

A recent study from UC Berkeley’s Labor Center found that lower wages cost taxpayers more than $100 billion a year, as almost half of the families who would see a raise from a $15 minimum wage rely on at least one social safety net program. The study found that 42% of the $254 billion spent on safety net programs goes to those families.

The Raise The Wage Act will give 32 million working people a much-needed raise. Increasing the minimum wage is an urgent, necessary step that President Joe Biden and Congress must take to combat the nation’s pandemic-induced economic crises.

A study from the UC Berkeley Labor Center found that nearly half of families who would see a pay bump rely on at least one such program like SNAP or Medicaid, and $100 billion in taxpayer money goes towards those families. A higher minimum wage would both put more money in families’ pockets, and provide some relief for those programs as those families would rely on them less.

The study, which comes from the UC Berkeley Labor Center, found that the country’s current low minimum wage costs taxpayers more than $100 billion a year. That’s because nearly half of the working families who would benefit from the pay bump rely on at least one safety net program, such as SNAP or Medicaid.

Dr. Rhee’s data shows that workers of color are behind on saving for retirement — 38% of Black households and 31% of Latino households have some assets in a retirement account, compared to 63% of white households.