Fast-Food Workers Are Costing the U.S. $7 Billion a Year in Public Aid

Those cheap fast-food prices conceal a huge hidden cost--even if you never pull into a drive-thru. New studies by the University of Illinois, University of California, Berkeley, and the National Employment Law Project find that taxpayer-funded safety net programs effectively subsidize fast food workers' low wages. Researchers say roughly 2.3 million non-managerial employees at the 10 largest fast-food companies in the United States cost taxpayers an estimated $3.8 billion per year in safety-net ...