The minimum wage for app-based restaurant delivery workers in New York City increased Monday thanks to a rule the city issued last summer requiring their pay to be adjusted for inflation each year.

Delivery workers for apps like Uber Eats and Grubhub will now earn at least $19.56 per hour, before tips, Mayor Eric Adams said at a press conference.

Before the city began enforcing the rule in December, app-based food delivery workers earned, on average, about $5.39 per hour, City Hall said in a news release.

After enforcement began, that minimum pay rate increased to $17.96. The plan was for the rate to rise to $18.96 this year, but the $19.56 rate reflects an additional 3.15% inflation adjustment, the release said.

“When you picked up the phone and you called for Uber Eats, it did not fall out of the sky from the food god. It came from these men and women who are behind us,” Adams said. “They delivered to you. They made sure that you were able to provide for your family. And today we are saying, we are standing up for you so you can provide for your family.”

Workers will earn at least $19.96 per hour, with an inflation adjustment, when the rate is fully phased in on April 1 of next year, according to the release.

The bump in pay affects more than 60,000 New Yorkers who deliver food in the five boroughs, and continues to set the city apart as the first in the nation to implement a minimum pay rate for delivery workers.

In its release, City Hall said workers now earn nearly $850 million more annually than they did prior to enforcement.

The city said the pay rate rule has not adversely affected consumers or restaurants, citing data submitted by Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub, which “together make up 95% of the market,” the release said.  

"There was no change in the number of deliveries performed by workers for Uber Eats, DoorDash or Grubhub, which together average about 2.6 million deliveries a week, both before and after enforcing the rate,” it added.

The New York City Council in September 2021 passed a law requiring the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to study the working conditions and pay of app-based food delivery workers and establish a minimum rate based on the findings, according to the release.

The study was published in 2022, and the city issued a rule setting a minimum pay rate on June 12 of last year. The rule was set to take effect on July 12, but lawsuits filed by several delivery apps delayed enforcement for several months.

A New York state appeals court in November denied the delivery apps’ appeals of a September ruling siding with the city, allowing the city to begin enforcement in December, the release said.