New York City announced a minimum pay rate for independent contractor restaurant delivery workers that use apps such as DoorDash and GrubHub. The minimum pay will ultimately be $19.96 per hour.

Currently, these independent contractors earn $7.09 per hour, according to the city.

“This new minimum pay rate, up by almost $13.00/hour, will guarantee these workers and their families can earn a living, access greater economic stability and help keep our city’s legendary restaurant industry thriving,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a press release.

There are some 60,000 such independent contractors in New York City.

Plans call for the minimum rate to rise to $17.96 on July 12. It will increase to $19.96 when fully phased in on April 1, 2025. Afterward, it will be updated for inflation.

Work service platforms, which operate the apps, have the option to pay delivery workers per trip or per hour worked, or they can develop their own pay rate formulas.

Apps that pay workers for all the time a worker is connected to the app — which includes time waiting for trip offers and trip time — must pay at least the $17.96 per hour, which is approximately 30 cents per minute, not including tips. Apps that only pay for trip time — the time from accepting a delivery offer to dropping off the delivery — must pay at least approximately 50 cents per minute, not including tips.

New York’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection found that independent contractors spend approximately 60% of their working time engaged in trips and 40% on call.

The New York City Council first passed Local Law 115 in September 2021, which required the department to study working conditions of the restaurant delivery drivers and set a minimum pay rate. The department published its study last year after obtaining data from app operators such as DoorDash, GrubHub, UberEats and Relay as well as restaurants and the delivery workers themselves.