Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft are squeezing driver wages in New York, while the companies are increasingly profiting, according to a new report from the UCLA Labor Center. Uber drivers plan to strike again in front of LaGuardia Airport on the 26th.
The report, which analyzed 50 million Uber and Lyft trips, reveals how fares are paid by riders, what the companies take and how much drivers are paid under the New York City Taxi Commission’s minimum wage for ride-hailing drivers. proportion. The report finds that Uber and Lyft will take a cut of rider fares from 9% in February 2019 to 20.7% in April 2022 in 2022 compared to when the minimum wage for ride-hailing drivers in New York City goes into effect in 2019 . Meanwhile, passenger fares have risen far more than driver wages, with median driver wages increasing 31% from February 2019 to April 2022, compared with a 50% increase in median passenger fares. In April 2020, when the epidemic was the worst, drivers went out to work and faced a significant risk of infection, while Uber and Lyft took 21.4% of passenger fares, setting a record.
The report also found that in 2022, Uber and Lyft will take a 30% cut or more on more rides than in 2019. In February 2019, these companies took a 30% cut on only about 9% of trips. In April 2022, these companies will charge more than 30% for 29% of trips.
Saba Waheed, director of research at the UCLA Labor Center, said that New York has done a good job of regulating pay standards and income protection for ride-hailing drivers, but the report shows that the transparency of company fees, passenger fares and driver fares have improved. Additional safeguards such as year-over-year wage increases are still necessary.
Bhairavi Desai, director of the Taxi Drivers Association, said that drivers earn so little that they have to hesitate between buying gasoline or buying food, but the profits of online ride-hailing companies have increased significantly, and Uber has also filed a lawsuit to prevent New York drivers from raising wages. , it’s clear that greed is the driving force behind Uber.
In November last year, the Municipal Taxi Management Committee approved a monthly salary increase of about 1,000 US dollars for online car-hailing drivers, and stipulated that it will be implemented on December 19, but Uber subsequently filed a lawsuit, and the court temporarily stopped the salary increase plan in December. .
Uber drivers have already staged two previous strikes, and a third is planned for Feb. 26 at LaGuardia Airport to protest Uber’s lawsuit blocking pay increases. The Municipal Taxi Management Committee will hold another public hearing on March 1 on the issue of salary increases for online taxi drivers.

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