Memo to politicians this Labor Day: Try mentioning ride-share drivers

Today is Labor Day, the annual occasion when politicians issue statements praising working people.

And when elected officials talk about helping workers, they almost invariably mention the same occupations: nurses, teachers and firefighters.

There is nothing wrong with recognizing them. Nurses care for the sick and save lives. Teachers educate the next generation. Firefighters willingly enter situations the rest of us flee. All three perform crucial and highly valued work.

But compared with many California workers, they are also relatively well paid.

According to the latest available state and federal figures, California registered nurses earn an average of about $150,280 annually. Public school teachers average $103,552, while firefighters earn about $95,090 before considering overtime.

Firefighter overtime can be considerable. A Los Angeles city audit found sworn police and fire employees averaged $27,737 in overtime, and a 2025 San Diego audit found that Fire-Rescue exceeded its overtime budget by a combined $71.6 million over six fiscal years.

Those figures do not diminish the difficulty, danger or importance of their work. They do, however, raise a Labor Day question: Why do politicians so often use relatively well-compensated workers as their examples while overlooking those earning the least?

California’s average annual wage is $80,690. Restaurant servers average $44,600. Hotel chambermaids earn about $45,930, landscape workers $47,420 and restaurant cooks $45,020 (see charts below).

App-based workers fare worse.

A UC Berkeley Labor Center study estimated employee-equivalent earnings—including tips and after expenses—of only $7.63 an hour for California ride-share drivers and $11.43 for food-delivery drivers. Annualized as full-time work, that is roughly $15,870 and $23,774, respectively.

Unlike many nurses, teachers and firefighters, these workers frequently lack strong union representation, predictable schedules, pensions, employer-paid health insurance and meaningful bargaining power.

Perhaps that explains their absence from so many political speeches.

Teachers, nurses and firefighters have large, organized unions capable of collecting dues, lobbying lawmakers, making campaign contributions and mobilizing voters. Ride-share drivers, chambermaids, restaurant cooks, car-wash attendants and nonunion retail workers generally cannot offer politicians the same organized political support.

The people who most need government’s attention are often the people with the least ability to command it.

This is not a zero-sum argument. Better wages or protections for a DoorDash driver do not require reducing a nurse’s salary.

Recognizing hotel workers does not diminish firefighters. Supporting restaurant cooks does not mean teachers deserve less.

It means elected officials should broaden their definition of “working people.”

By all means, praise the nurse working an overnight hospital shift, the teacher managing an overcrowded classroom and the firefighter responding to a burning home.

But also mention the housekeeper cleaning hotel rooms, the cook standing over a hot grill, the cashier working without a guaranteed schedule and the driver absorbing the cost of gasoline, insurance and vehicle repairs while an app determines the next fare.

On Labor Day, politicians should not reserve their warmest words for workers represented by the strongest organizations.

The real test is whether they will stand up for workers who have no powerful union, no political action committee and little ability to make themselves heard.