ANAHEIM, Calif. -- One-tenth of Disneyland employees have recently experienced homelessness while two-thirds of the park’s employees can’t afford three meals a day, according to a union-funded report.
Disney officials slammed the report saying it’s politically motivated and that the document is skewed to reflect the position of unions.
The report argues that 74 percent of workers at the park can’t pay for basic expenses each month. The report also claims that 85 percent of park employees are paid less than $15 per hour.
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"As Disneyland profits and prices hit record highs, Disneyland employees are falling farther behind," said Peter Dreier, a policy professor at Occidental and one of the report's authors.
"Disneyland wages aren't keeping up with rising rents in Southern California. Our survey found that homelessness and housing instability are so widespread that they have become a normal part of employees' lives at the park. Similarly, we found it's normal for Disneyland workers to skip meals in order to make ends meet."
The report was based on a survey of 5,000 Disneyland employees. Disneyland has roughly 30,000 employees.
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Disney responded to the report with a statement of their own.
"This inaccurate and unscientific survey was paid for by politically motivated labor unions and its results are deliberately distorted and do not reflect how the overwhelming majority of our 30,000 cast members feel about the company," Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown said. "While we recognize that socio-economic challenges exist for many people living in Southern California, we take pride in our employment experience," she said.
Disney also said a majority of the park’s employees make more than minimum wage while entry-level positions range between $11 and $17.75 per hour.
UPDATE (March 2, 2018): Disney officials say the average salary for full-time, hourly employees at the park is $37,000.
