<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1G9Gi1_0wG44tRG00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1G9Gi1_0wG44tRG00" width="1250" height="833" ><figcaption>An employee hands an order to Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump during a visit to McDonald's in Feasterville-Trevose, Pa., Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (Doug Mills/The New York Times via AP, Pool) </figcaption></figure> Over the weekend, a billionaire real-estate magnate worked a fry machine and served drive-thru customers. No, it wasn’t an episode of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442553/" rel="nofollow"> Undercover Boss </a> ; it was a staged photo op by the Republican nominee for president, Donald Trump. Despite the Trump campaign’s insistence that the event was iconic, social media users questioned whether the event was as scripted a production as an episode of The Apprentice. Fact or fiction, what’s true is that Trump couldn’t be more atypical of today’s fast-food workforce, the majority of which is female, about half consisting of people of color (including many immigrants) and low-wage earners scraping by to feed their families. But don’t beef with us — the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the <a href="https://www.nelp.org/" rel="nofollow"> National Employment Law Projec </a> t (NELP) routinely publish data about America’s fast-food workers. —Despite myths, the majority of fast food jobs are no longer held by teenagers working part-time. Although there was some truth to that in the 1970s and 90s, a 2020 report by NELP, shows that more than 70% of fast food workers are 20 or older with the share of workers between 25-54 increasing steadily. In 2021, less than a third of fast food workers were between 16 and 19. —Women are the majority of fast food workers, around 58% according to the BLS. Interestingly, some research shows that within fast food establishments, some roles fall along gender lines with women concentrated in front-of-the-house such as cashiers and counter workers, while men are more commonly employed in kitchen or back-of-house positions. —Hispanic and Latino workers are overrepresented in fast food jobs based on their share of the US population, around 30% of fast food workers compared to 19% of the overall population. Black workers are around 13 percent of fast food workforces, close to their portion of the U.S. population. Roughly half of fast food workers are white, predominantly in rural areas, according to BLS —According to the <a href="https://www.migrationpolicy.org/" rel="nofollow"> Migration Policy Institute </a> , immigrants make up roughly 20 to 25% of the fast food workforce, though this can be higher in dense metropolitan areas. —According to BLS, the median hourly wage for fast food workers in 2023 was around $12.90 per hour. More than 50% of fast food workers use public assistance programs (e.g., <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program" rel="nofollow"> SNAP </a> , Medicaid) to support themselves and their families. —To knock down another stereotype about teenage fast food workers, a study by the <a href="https://www.berkeley.edu/" rel="nofollow"> University of California at Berkeley </a> , found that 68% of fast food workers were the primary income earners for their families. </div></body>

Mountain View, CA

NewsBreak

Despite Trump McDonald’s stunt, the real face of fast food workers is female, low-wage and nonwhite

The majority of America's fast-food workforce is female, people of color (including many immigrants) and low-wage earners scraping by to feed their families.