Minimum Wage Workers

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Who are these workers that makes minimum wage? According to the official Bureau of Labor Statistics 3.3 million are making at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Among 3.3 are split into two main categories. The first category is those who are making the exact federal minimum wage which accounts for 1.5 million workers. The second category is those who are making below the federal minimum wage which accounts for 1.8 million workers. The second category includes tipped workers, full time students, and disabled workers. Majority of which are tipped workers and regardless of how much tips they received, they will at least make the federal minimum wage. About 50 percent of the minimum wage earners are under the age of 25; 20 percent of which are at teenagers between the ages of 16 to 19. Of the 3.3 million workers making at or below federal minimum wage, 1.5 million of whom are employed through the food and service related industry. The other 1.8 million are employed through industries such as sales, services, transportation, building, office and more. Those 3.3 million workers earning at or below minimum wage account for 4.3% of 75.9 million total hourly paid US workers. Those who make at or below federal minimum wage, in terms of education among the total hourly paid workers: 10 percent earned less than a high school diploma, 4 percent who earned a high school diploma, and 2 percent who are college graduates. In terms of ethnicity: 5 percent are Black, 4 percent are White and/or Hispanic, and 3 percent are Asian. Majority of those making federal minimum wage resides at Idaho and Tennessee (BLS 1). A fairly common misconception is that workers, who make at or below federal minimum wage, correlate to those who would be affe... ... middle of paper ... ...ewresearch.org. Pew Research Center, 4 Dec. 2013. Web. 9 May 2014. DOL. "History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938 - 2009." Dol.gov. US Department of Labor, n.d. Web. 11 May 2014. Jamieson, Dave, and Saki Knafo. "One Walmart's Low Wages Could Cost Taxpayers $900,000 Per Year, House Dems Find." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 31 May 2013. Web. 11 May 2014. Reich, Michael, Ken Jacobs, and Annette Bernhardt. Berkely.edu. Institute for Research Labor and Employment [IRLE], Mar. 2014. Web. 1 May 2014. Shierholz, Heidi. "Lagging Minimum Wage Is One Reason Why Most Americans' Wages Have Fallen behind Productivity." EPI.org. Economic Policy Institute, 11 July 2013. Web. 28 May 2014. White, Matha. "Fast-Food Workers Are Costing the U.S. $7 Billion a Year in Public Aid | TIME.com." Time.com. TIME, n.d. Web. 01 May 2014.

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