Issue: Would You Pay More for a Big Mac to Give Staff a ‘Living Wage’?

McDonald’s and other fast-food chains are being targeted by workers, who are calling for a minimum “living wage” of $15 an hour. But what would that mean for the cost of hamburgers, tacos and chicken strips?

“Doubling the salaries and benefits of all McDonald’s employees—from workers earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour to CEO Donald Thompson, whose 2012 compensation totaled $8.75 million—would cause the price of a Big Mac to increase just 68 cents, from $3.99 to $4.67,” University of Kansas research assistant Arnobio Morelix told Huffington Post. “In addition, every item on the Dollar Menu would go up by 17 cents.”

Morelix reviewed the 2012 McDonald’s annual report and “discovered that only 17.1 percent of the fast-food giant’s revenue goes toward salaries and benefits. In other words, for every dollar McDonald’s earns, a little more than 17 cents goes toward the income and benefits of its more than 500,000 U.S. employees.”

Does this give you pause?  Would you be willing to 68 cents more for a Big Mac if it meant an hourly age of $15 for the burger-flipper?  Or would such a wage give investors indigestion and doom McDonald’s on Wall Street? Share your thoughts in the comments.