More New York City residents are working in low-wage jobs, according to a new study by the Center for an Urban Future.

According to their report published Thursday, more than a third of New York adults work in low-wage jobs.

In 2007, about 31 percent of New Yorkers were in a low-wage job, but now, that number is 35 percent.

This number has steadily risen throughout the last few years, and the percentage of New Yorkers working in low-wage jobs jumps to nearly half in the Bronx, the report states.

In that borough, 47 percent of working adults are in low-wage jobs.

In every borough but Queens, where 34 percent of people are making a low wage, the percentage has increased throughout the last five years, the center reported.

The group speculated that the increase might be due to more jobs requiring at least a college degree. At the same time, jobs usually available to people with a high school degree, like manufacturing and car repair, also go to those with higher degrees.

This trickle-down effect means that people with a high school degree are moving toward low-wage jobs like food service and retail.

The post More New Yorkers working in low-wage jobs appeared first on Metro.us.

Hundreds of fast-food restaurant workers in New York City are expected to walk off the job Thursday in what organizers said would be their largest rally yet for better pay.

Employees from familiar chains such as McDonald’s Corp., Wendy’s and Yum Inc.’s KFC are seeking to roughly double their hourly pay to $15. They also want the right to form a union without intimidation or retaliation.

Winning such concessions will be difficult. Low-wage, low-skill workers lack political clout and face significantly higher unemployment than college graduates.

As many as 400 workers from more than five dozen restaurants around New York City have committed to turn out for protests planned at various locations, said Jonathan Westin, director of Fast Food Forward, which organized Thursday’s actions and is backed by labor, community and religious groups.

That turnout would be twice as large as in November, when the city’s fast-food workers also walked off the job, Westin said.

And, he said, the majority of employees from some individual fast-food outlets have vowed to participate in Thursday’s actions.

“It’s going to be difficult for these businesses to operate this time,” Westin said.

The nearly $200 billion U.S. fast-food industry has long been known as a employer of teenagers and students. But the 18-month “Great Recession” that began in December 2007 helped change that. It destroyed thousands of middle-income jobs and forced more adults to seek part-time, largely minimum-wage work flipping burgers and manning fryers.

In his State of the Union address in February, President Barack Obama proposed raising the federal minimum wage as a way to help lift some workers out of poverty — a plan critics said would kill jobs by burdening small businesses with higher costs.

The state of New York is already on that path. Its recently passed budget included plans to raise the state minimum wage, now at $7.25, to $9 by the end of 2015.

But even with that 24 percent hike, New York’s minimum wage would remain below the roughly $11 hourly pay needed to lift a family of four above the poverty line.

Such pay-boosting efforts are welcome but not enough for workers struggling to make ends meet, said fast-food employee Joseph Barrera, who plans to join Thursday’s protests.

The 22-year-old says he has earned $7.25 per hour for the 10 months he has worked at a KFC restaurant in Brooklyn. Even with a side job as a freelance mechanic, he still stretches to cover rent on his basement apartment that has no windows or heat.

“Anywhere where the cost of living is very, very high, $9 is not enough. Everyone should be able to make a living wage,” Barrera said.

McDonald’s Corp., the world’s biggest fast-food chain by sales, in November said that the majority of its namesake U.S. restaurants are owned and operated by independent businessmen and women who offer pay and benefits competitive within the quick service restaurant industry.

The post New York fast-food workers turn up heat in bid for better pay appeared first on Metro.us.

State lawmakers reportedly reached a tentative deal on Monday to raise the minimum wage in New York state over the next three years, according to the NY Times.

The state minimum wage is current $7.25, which Governor Andrew Cuomo and Democratic members of the legislature have argued has not kept up with the rising cost of living.

The new plan would result in an eventual raise of $9 by the start of 2016.

The minimum wage would increase to $8 per house next year.

Republicans, reportedly concerned that raising the minimum wage would hurt businesses in a fragile economy, apparently agreed to the increase in exchange for tax breaks, according to the NY Times.

But Mike Durant, New York State director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said the tax breaks are not enough.

“Does it help?” he asked. “Sure. Does it mitigate the damage completely? Absolutely not.”

Conversely, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum said the increase is not enough.

“People in New York are struggling to survive, with 21 percent of all people in New York City, a city of extraordinary wealth, living below the federal poverty line,” Appelbaum said. “$8 per hour is still better than $7.25 per hour, although New York’s working poor need and deserve more.”

Appelbaum wanted an immediate $9 per hour increase.

Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos said that the plan negotiated on Monday would include $700 million in new tax cuts for businesses and families.

The negotiations are part of an overall state spending plan that must be finalized by April 1.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

The post Lawmakers reach deal on minimum wage appeared first on Metro.us.