Disneyland may bill itself as the “happiest place on earth,” but apparently that doesn’t hold true for the theme park’s 30,000 employees, according to a new report published by the Los Angeles Times.
Though Disneyland’s attendance, daily ticket prices and revenues have gone up since 2000, its employees’ pay has dropped 15 percent in real dollars.
According to the survey (conducted by Peter Dreier, a politics professor at Occidental College, and Daniel Flaming, the president of the Economic Roundtable), 85 percent of Disneyland employees — including food service workers, hair stylists, costumers, candy makers and others — are paid less that $15 an hour. Even 54 percent of full-time employees who have worked that the theme park from more than 15 years, make less than $15 an hour and 13 percent are paid less than $11 an hour.
This has left many employees at Disneyland facing hard times with one and 10 saying they were homeless at sometime within the last two years. Also, two-thirds claim they don’t have enough food to eat three meals a day. Three-quarters claim they have trouble paying for basic monthly expenses. (Los Angeles Times)
Fasho Thoughts:
- Perhaps Disney feels its employees get perks by working there and don’t need to be fairly compensated financially.
- This is bad press for Disney. Wonder if they’ll react and give raises.
- Disney likely got a tax break under Trump’s new plan. It should pass on some of that savings to its employees.
Source: CS / CS
