From:
MAP &
DATA RESOURCES
Who makes what?
June 4, 2014 — As the Obama administration’s proposal to raise
the federal minimum wage to $10.10 from $7.25 an hour remains stalled in Congress and many low-paid
workers call for the minimum wage to be raised to $15 an hour,
this new visualization from Remapping Debate provides a picture of how much
most hourly workers make an hour, and how that has changed over time.
The data used here are for workers paid at hourly rates, not for
workers who work on a salaried basis. (In the first four months of 2014, those
paid at hourly rates represented about 58 percent of all wage and salary
workers.)
All data reflected in the visualization are adjusted for
inflation to 2014 dollars. These data — from the Current Population Survey of
the U.S. Census Bureau — show
that the percentages of workers at various pay levels have not changed
significantly between 1994 and 2014 (although the absolute number of workers at
most levels has increased due to increasing population).
In the first four months of 2014, for example, 32.44 percent of
all hourly workers made $10 or less an hour, representing 24,352,773 workers. In 1994, 32.72
percent of workers made the equivalent amount in 2014 dollars when adjusting
for inflation ($6.25), representing 21,866,963 workers.
To put that amount in context, a full-time worker earning $10 an
hour makes approximately $20,000 a year. That’s well below the poverty
threshold for a family of four with two children, which was $23,624 in 2013. A
full-time worker making minimum wage only makes about $14,500, less than
two-thirds of the poverty line for a family of four.
In order to earn at least 150 percent of the poverty line (that
is, to not be in a “near poverty” state), a sole full-time worker in a family
of four with two children would need to make at least $17.70 an hour. More than
70 percent of hourly workers made below that amount in 2014.
To explore these data in the visualization, first enter an
hourly wage (up to $100, in $0.25 intervals). Then select whether to view the
percentage of workers making above the selected wage or making the selected
wage and below. The visualization automatically adjusts the hourly wage entered
to 2014 dollars in all previous years.
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