How many workers make less than the minimum wage?

Among those paid by the hour, 542,000 workers earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 1.3 million had wages below the federal minimum. Together, these 1.8 million workers with wages at or below the federal minimum made up 2.3 percent of all hourly paid workers.

Is the minimum wage enough for single people with no dependents?

However, for single people with no dependents, the government claims the federal minimum wage is more than enough to survive and stay out of poverty. To put this claim to the test, let’s look at the budget of a minimum wage worker we’ll call Kai, who lives alone with no children. You can picture Kai as a man or a woman of any age or race.

Is it possible to live on minimum wage in America?

Real People Living on Minimum Wage. Judging by Kai’s story, it looks like it is just barely possible to live on minimum wage — in some cases. A single person with no debts can stretch an income of $1,222 a month to cover all the necessities of life, but they’ll have nothing left over for savings.

What can we learn from the 2017 federal minimum wage data?

The following are highlights from the 2017 data: Age. Minimum wage workers tend to be young. Although workers under age 25 represented only about one-fifth of hourly paid workers, they made up about half of those paid the federal minimum wage or less.

Among those paid by the hour, 392,000 workers earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 1.2 million had wages below the federal minimum. Together, these 1.6 million workers with wages at or below the federal minimum made up 1.9 percent of all hourly paid workers.

What percentage of workers without a high school diploma earn minimum wage?

Among hourly paid workers age 16 and older, about 3 percent of those without a high school diploma earned the federal minimum wage or less, compared with 2 percent of those who had a high school diploma (with no college), 2 percent of those with some college or an associate degree, and about 1 percent of college graduates.

Does the minimum wage increase automatically?

The minimum wage does not increase automatically. Congress must pass a bill which the President signs into law in order for the minimum wage to go up. Who makes sure workers are paid the minimum wage? The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage.