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Politics and Government News
Jon Collins

Minneapolis releases new analysis on Uber, Lyft driver pay estimates

People sit on a long bench during a meeting
Rideshare drivers representing the MULDA Members group listen during a Minneapolis City Council meeting on April 11.
Ben Hovland | MPR News

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An analysis recently released by the city of Minneapolis provides yet another estimate of the wages rideshare drivers need to be paid in order to earn the city’s mandated minimum wage of $15.57 per hour. 

The analysis by the city’s Policy and Research Division is mostly in line with previous state and city studies of rideshare drivers’ wages, and doesn’t appear to shift the debate at the Minneapolis City Council over the new rideshare ordinance in either direction.   

The previous Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry study recommended $1.21 a mile to achieve the city’s minimum wage, which is about $.19 less than the ordinance that passed the Minneapolis City Council. Those wages factor in the cost of paid leave, health insurance, retirement savings and unemployment insurance. 

The newest study includes higher estimates of drivers’ cost for fuel and vehicles. It includes a breakdown of the required drivers’ earnings per mile based on their interest rate and terms of their loans. The estimates range from a low end of $1.18 per mile to a high end of $1.42 per mile. 

The numbers aren’t likely to change many votes at the Minneapolis City Council, which has passed an ordinance giving drivers $1.40 a mile and $.51 cents a minute that's set to go into effect in July. 

Uber and Lyft have threatened to stop servicing the city if the Minneapolis ordinance goes into effect. In hopes of averting that, state lawmakers in both chambers of the Legislature are pushing through legislation to create a statewide minimum compensation and more workplace protections for rideshare drivers.