Starting this summer, approximately 90,000 McDonald's employees working at company-owned stores will received an increase in their paychecks, along with paid vacation.

The world's largest restaurant chain announced on Wednesday that on July 1 it will begin paying at least $1 an hour more than the local minimum wage for employees at the roughly 1,500 company-owned restaurants across the U.S.

As a result, the new average hourly rate for those workers will jump to $9.90 from its current rate of $9.01. The fast food chain also noted that the average hourly wage rate for McDonald's employees at those restaurants will exceed $10 by the end of 2016, reports Reuters.

Meanwhile, most workers in states like Illinois will be making at least $9.25 an hour starting this summer, while those in Chicago will earn $11 an hour, notes CBS Chicago.

In addition, McDonald's said that both full- and part-time crew employees who have been working at company-operated restaurants for at least one year will begin to accrue personal paid time-off.

"We know that a motivated workforce leads to better customer service, so we believe this initial step not only benefits our employees, it will improve the McDonald's restaurant experience," said Steve Easterbrook, McDonald's new chief executive on March 1 in a statement.

However, critics point out that the new wage hike will only benefit about 10 percent of McDonald's employees since the other 90 percent work at franchise restaurants, where independent owners are allowed to set their own wages.

"This is too little to make a real difference, and covers only a fraction of workers," Kwanza Brooks, a McDonald's worker from Charlotte, North Carolina, who earns $7.25 per hour, said in a statement.

Brooks is part of the union-backed "Fight for $15" movement, which is demanding that the multi-billion dollar company to provide workers with $15 an hour.