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There's a lot of counterintuitive numbers flying around in this issue. The Texas rate actually fell this year from 14.3% in 2009 while nationally, the percentage increased from 4.9% to 6%.
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/w...tml#slComments
Texas: The minimum-wage state
States with the highest percentage of workers earning at or below minimum wage:
Texas: 9.5 percent, 550,000 workers
Mississippi: 9.5 percent, 63,000
Alabama: 9.3 percent, 106,000
West Virginia: 9.3 percent, 40,000
Louisiana: 8.9 percent, 87,000
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
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Texas tied with Mississippi for states having the highest percentage of hourly paid workers earning the minimum wage or less in 2010.
Some 550,000 Texans, or 9.5 percent of hourly paid workers, made the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour or less last year. That's up 76,000 workers, or 16 percent, from 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Monday.
Leslie Helmcamp, a policy analyst with the Austin-based Center for Public Policy Priorities, which focuses on low- and moderate-income Texans, called the numbers “alarming.”
“The higher proportion of hourly paid workers who are earning at or below the minimum wage is reflective of our low high school and college completion rates,” Helmcamp said. “We can only attract higher-paying jobs if we are able to move more Texans into higher education and ultimately complete a college degree.”
The federal poverty level for a family of three was $18,310 last year, Helmcamp said, which means a single parent with two children and working for minimum wage would earn about $3,200 less than the poverty level.
“So you have a pretty big gap,” she said. “It's significant because it demonstrates that work alone is not a pathway out of poverty.”
In 2007, the center calculated a family of three would need $31,000 annually to “get by” in San Antonio. That's more than double the annual salary of someone paid minimum wage in 2010.
The median wage of all hourly paid Texans was $11.20 last year. Nationally, it was $12.50. In Texas, the median hourly wage for men was $12.13; for women, $10.24. Nationally, the median was $13.76 for men and $11.83 for women.
Texas tied with Mississippi for the highest percentage of hourly paid workers earning the minimum wage or less last year. However, the actual number of hourly paid workers in the Magnolia State earning at or below the minimum wage was only 63,000. (The previous year Texas was No. 1 on its own based on percentage.)
Cheryl Abbot, a regional economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, blamed the high percentage of minimum-wage earners in Texas on the state having a lot of low-paying industries.
It isn't a recent phenomenon, she added. Last year's 16 percent increase in Texans earning minimum wage or less was the smallest rise since a decline was reported in 2006.
The 474,000 hourly paid Texans earning minimum wage or less in 2009 was an 81 percent increase from 2008, Abbot said. She attributed the big jumps to increases in the federal minimum wage since 2007. It rose from $5.15 to $5.85 in 2007. That was followed by an increase to $6.55 in 2008 before it rose to its current level in July 2009.
Texans earning an hourly wage who made less than the minimum wage actually fell last year to 4.9 percent from 5.8 percent in 2009. Those earning exactly the minimum wage, though, jumped to 4.7 percent last year vs. 2.8 percent in 2009.
“It's possible the number of people being paid the minimum wage may be a reflection of the continuing impact of the recession last year (and) ... that employers were not increasing wages,” Abbot said.
Texas wants to the Conservative model for the country... mmmmmk
Great Job Rick
There's a lot of counterintuitive numbers flying around in this issue. The Texas rate actually fell this year from 14.3% in 2009 while nationally, the percentage increased from 4.9% to 6%.
http://www.themonitor.com/articles/w...tml#slComments
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...112799634.html
I guess people would rather make $7.25 than 0.The Texas unemployment rate has been at or below the national rate for 45 consecutive months and unlike most states, Texas is currently adding jobs – up 172,800 jobs from October 2009 to October 2010.
If we're gonna bust Perry's balls over something, and there are plenty of somethings to choose from, let's start here.
http://www.childrensrights.org/news-...elfare-system/
$7.25 x 2000 = $14,500/year, the Texas "living wage".
People here say minimum wage hires are useless, but 500K are useful to some mysterious TX employers somewhere.
“The higher proportion of hourly paid workers who are earning at or below the minimum wage is reflective of our low high school and college completion rates,”
just curious, anyone know how someone can be working below minimum wage and how they were found to be working below minimum wage?
Waiters and waitresses fall outside of the minimum wage scope...at least at the 7.25 level. I think they have their own scale that's probably counted as below minimum.
Well, Texans as a whole are fatter than most, so us having the highest percentage of sit down restaurants of any state wouldn't surprise me.
"our low high school and college completion rates,"
and TX is 47th, IIRC, in spending per K-12 student.
I think there are also some exceptions for certain small businesses and teenagers.
Which means absolutely nothing.
meh.
our country spends the most per student in the world and we still suck.
But thanks for the non sequitur....again, boutonski.
“The higher proportion of hourly paid workers who are earning at or below the minimum wage is reflective of our low high school and college completion rates,”
Sounds good but ..
Texas HS completion rate =73% = 9.5% of workforce at minimum wage
Washington State HS completion rate = 71% = 1% of workforce min wage
must be something else...
Washington has a state minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage.
The standard calculation is 2080 hours.
I don't see much a point to the article. Federal minimum wage or less? A high percentage, yes. If I were to draw a (yes, biased) conclusion, it would be that the influx of illegal aliens keep the wages low. Being a border state, places do not have to pay higher wages to entice employees.
The "or less" part is concerning if the state laws don't allow for lower wages than minimum for jobs that tip.
So may states will not fall under such a category. My state, Oregon, has a state minimum wage of $8.50 per hour.
I don't know about Texas, but Oregon used to have a similar law. Employers still had to guarantee the state minimum wage is tops did not make up for it.
Yes, Washington state minimum wage is $8.67/hr.
Even if your earning the $18.3K...that's still to raise a family with two kids....and en tea baggers wonder why we have to have income tax wealth distribution...The federal poverty level for a family of three was $18,310 last year, Helmcamp said, which means a single parent with two children and working for minimum wage would earn about $3,200 less than the poverty level.
Pay a real living wage....
No, the tea baggers want to fix all this at the root cause level instead of using liberal bandages.
How about removing your bias for a few minutes and actually listen to the message.
What bias? Show me where conservative fiscal policies have ever been successful...
.....who is biased again?
You and your globalist elk want to compete against countries that pay their workers less than a dollar an hour .... no worker rights..... no worker safety....no worker protection....no benefits...... on a neven playing ground.......your an idiot....you've sold this country out..
Me?
See, there you go jumping to conclusions again, not knowing what the you are talking about. Do you realize how ing lame you are when you do that?
I've read enough of your crap on here....
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