Despite a decline in the number of low-wage workers in the U.S., 23% of workers still earn less than $17 per hour.

Low-wage workers have been fighting for a higher minimum wage for years.

The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour, while the federal tipped minimum is $2.13 per hour. In 2012, fast food workers in New York City demanded $15 per hour, which sparked the Fight for $15 movement and led Congress to introduce the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, which aims to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025.

The Raise the Wage Act of 2023, which aims to increase the minimum wage to $17 per hour by 2028, has been introduced by federal lawmakers. This bill was previously referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in July 2023.

According to Kaitlyn Henderson, a senior researcher at Oxfam, workers and advocates, including policymakers, have acknowledged that $15 is inadequate and have shifted their focus to $17 as a more realistic goal.

Oxfam's recent report, The Crisis of Low Wages, reveals that more than 39 million U.S. workers earn less than $17 per hour, which accounts for about 23% of the total workforce. Despite this, Henderson notes that there has been a decline in the number of workers earning a low wage in recent years.

The reason for the slight improvement in these workers' pay and the persistence of millions earning so little is not fully understood.

Workers aren't 'willing to accept' the same conditions

Oxfam's last study on low wages was in 2022, and they used $15 per hour as a benchmark. However, Henderson found that there are fewer people making less than $15 an hour than those making less than $17 an hour. There are several reasons for this.

• In January 2024, nearly half of the states raised their minimum wages, resulting in an increase in pay for nearly 10 million workers. This was reported by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. Currently, seven states have a minimum wage of $15 per hour or higher, with Washington, D.C.'s minimum wage being $17.50 per hour. According to Henderson, as states continue to annually increase their minimum wages, the number of low-wage workers does decrease.

• Many states have increased their tipped minimum wages or abolished the tipped minimum altogether. For instance, Maine raised its tip minimum from $6.90 to $7.08 per hour, while Oregon has eliminated the tipped minimum entirely. According to Henderson, this move "significantly contributes to resolving the issue of low-paid workers and the widespread poverty among working adults."

• The Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on low-wage workers. Post Covid, low-wage workers "weren't willing to accept a lot of the same conditions that they did before," says Judy Conti, director of government affairs at the National Employment Law Project. She adds that, "employers had to pay more money in order to get people to work for them, and workers realized the power that they held in the moment." Real wages, or those adjusted for inflation, for low-wage workers grew 12.1% between 2019 and 2023, according to EPI.

53% of tipped wage workers earn less than $17 per hour

Despite the fact that there are nearly 40 million workers earning less than $17 per hour.

Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour, which is the longest period without an increase since its inception in 1938, as per Oxfam.

Oxfam reports that twenty states have a minimum wage of $7.25 or less per hour, which corresponds to the states with the highest proportion of workers earning less than $17 per hour.

The states with the highest percentage of workers earning less than $17 per hour include Mississippi, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Kentucky, Texas, and North Carolina.

Over 50% of tipped workers nationwide earn less than $17 per hour, according to a report.

77.6% of health care and social assistance workers are women

Frequently, it is women and communities of color who are most affected by these policies.

According to the report, 27% of working women and 19% of men earn less than $17 per hour.

Due to occupational segregation, certain demographic groups are overrepresented or underrepresented in specific fields.

Women dominate the care industry, with 77.6% of health care and social assistance workers being female, including home health aides who earn a median of $16.12 per hour, and 94% of child-care workers who make a median of $14.60 per hour, according to various sources.

Agriculture has a higher proportion of people of color compared to other fields. Over 60% of agricultural workers are from Mexico, as per the National Center for Farmworker Health. Their median hourly wage is $16.73, according to BLS.

Single parents are more likely to end up with low-wage work, with nearly half earning less than $17 per hour, according to Oxfam. Single parent homes are about four times more likely to be led by single mothers than single fathers, according to the Census Bureau.

In West Virginia, $17 per hour is not enough to live on.

It is challenging to earn a living even for those making $17 per hour or slightly above.

West Virginia is the cheapest U.S. state, with Mercer County being the cheapest place to live, where a single adult with no children could survive on $17.23 per hour, according to MIT's Living Wage Calculator. In most West Virginia counties, a single person with no dependents would need to earn at least $18 per hour to survive.

"I believe several states are moving towards higher wages than $17 an hour, which is thrilling to witness," says Henderson.

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