NYC sets minimum wage for app food delivery workers

New York City announced a new minimum pay rate for app food delivery workers on Sunday, with the increase in use of services like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Postmates.

Food delivery workers in Manhattan make an average of $7.09 an hour; the new pay rate will have them earn at least $19.96 an hour, with an increase to $17.96 an hour on July 12 and another increase to $20 an hour in 2025, according to a news release from NYC.

“Our delivery workers have consistently delivered for us; now we are delivering for them. This new minimum pay rate will guarantee these workers and their families can earn a living, access greater economic stability, and help keep our city’s legendary restaurant industry thriving,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

It will be up to delivery apps to decide how to pay delivery workers the new minimum wage. Apps can opt to pay users per trip, per hour worked, or using their own formula, as long as they make the minimum wage.

Apps that pay workers for the time they are waiting for a trip and their trip time must pay at least $0.30 a minute once the changes start in 2023. Apps that only pay once a driver accepts a delivery trip will have to pay at least $0.50 per minute; the rates do not include tips.

“While there’s still work to do, a minimum pay rate for food delivery workers will transform the lives of thousands of families across the city and deliver long overdue justice for deliveristas,” said Ligia Guallpa, the executive director of the Worker’s Justice Project.

DoorDash, on the other hand, is opposing what it calls an extreme policy, and is considering litigation to push back against it, saying it goes beyond the standards other industries are held to.

Uber Eats, which also owns Postmates, is against the city’s new policy, saying that it is not being honest with delivery workers.

“They are telling apps to eliminate jobs, discourage tipping, force couriers to go faster, and accept more trips—that’s how you’ll pay for this,” said Josh Gold, a spokesperson for Uber Eats, in a statement.

Delivery orders have spiked in the US during the COVID pandemic; delivery accounted for seven percent of total US restaurant sales in 2019, while they reached nine percent in 2021.