Doubling McDonald's pay ups Dollar Menu 17 cents

Doubling the wages of McDonald's workers making $7.25 an hour would increase the price of a Big Mac from $3.99 to $4.67, a U.S college student says. Arnobio Morelix, an undergraduate student at the University of Kansas School of Business, said he analyzed McDonald's annual reports and data sets submitted to investors and found overall, increasing the wages of those now making $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour would result in the fast-food chain's famous Dollar Menu going for $1.17 instead of $1, Forbes reported. Morelix said his analysis assumed profits and other expenses were kept at the same absolute number. He said his calculations were based on increases in salaries and benefits for every McDonald's worker, from minimum wage line cooks paid $7.25 an hour to Donald Thompson, chief executive officer, who made $8.75 million in 2012, Forbes said. Morelix said McDonald's 2012 annual report said the cost of labor -- salary and benefits -- was 17.1 percent of the fast-food giant's revenue.