With most pandemic restrictions in the rearview mirror, people have started dining out again. But while the customers are mostly back, the workers still aren’t—an issue advocates and lawmakers alike blame on servers’ woefully volatile wages.
According to the latest report from the National Restaurant Association, the industry is still down 462,000 jobs from pre-pandemic levels. To bring them back, at least a dozen states are considering eliminating subminimum wages. Under federal law, some workers can be paid less than the minimum wage, such as tipped workers, students and disabled workers.
Several states have already started addressing the latter. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill last year ending the subminimum wage for those with disabilities, joining a dozen or so other states in phasing it out.
Now, several states are turning their attention to tipped workers. The federal subminimum wage for tipped workers is currently $2.13 per hour and has not been increased in more than three decades.
The restaurant industry is one of the largest employers in the country, and its workforce is overwhelmingly women and disproportionately women of color, Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, an advocacy group, said in a call with state lawmakers and reporters Friday.
“They need a full, stable livable wage in order to come back to the restaurant industry,” Jayaraman said. “But we are also hearing from thousands of restaurant owners that they'd like to see policies...
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