They save New Yorkers’ lives — but might be better off driving an Uber.
Big Apple Uber drivers who worked 32 hours a week for 50 weeks a year netted $52,900 on average, according to an October report from the ride-share company. The figure dwarfs the base annual salary of $39,386 for the city’s first-year emergency medical technicians.
Despite spending hundreds of hours learning life-saving medical skills, including training to perform emergency births, manage fractures and conduct trauma assessments, EMTs can expect to work five years before bringing in a maximum base salary of $59,534, plus benefits.
Union leadership said the paltry pay has driven ambulance workers to other city jobs or the private sector.
“I have friends who have left this job to do Instacart, to do Uber, to do Lyft,” Oren Barzilay, president of the Local 2507 of District Council 37, which represents the city’s 4,100 EMTs and paramedics, told The Post.
“We save thousands of lives every year, and the starting salary is $19 an hour,” he added. “How do you [expect] people to survive on that?”
Uber drivers, whose pay rates along with other ride-share motorists are regulated by the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, have seen five raises since 2020, most recently snagging a 3.49% pay rate hike tied to inflation in March.
Uber and Lyft, however, also reportedly have been locking their drivers out of the apps since June for hours at a time to avoid millions of dollars in pay. Salary data for Uber’s October report was based on riders’ earnings and expenses for the 12-month period ending in April.
The city’s EMT workers, meanwhile, have been without a contract for more than two years.
Barzilay said he and his colleagues, who are part of the city Fire Department, are seeking “pay-parity” with other uniformed services, which Mayor Adams promised during his 2021 campaign but so far has failed to deliver.
“Either through collective bargaining or through the administration, [EMT workers] need a raise desperately,” said City Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens), who chairs the Fire and Emergency Management Committee.
The mayor’s office referred a request for comment about the EMT’s pay to TLC spokesman Jason Kersten, who said working for Uber “hasn’t exactly been a reliable gig lately,” citing ride share drivers’ lockouts.
