A study by Oxfam America, an anti-poverty advocacy group, found that 51.9 million US workers, about 32% of the employed population, earned less than $15 an hour. [1] [2] [3]
Employees of color and women were more likely to earn less than $15 an hour: 47% of black workers, 46.2% of Hispanic workers, and 40% of women workers in comparison to 26% of white workers and 25% of male workers who earned less than $15 an hour. When demographics are combined, the discrepancies are even larger with 50% of women of color earning less than $15 an hour. While 58% of single parents found themselves in the same boat. [1] [2] [3]
State minimum wages also play a part. 45% of Mississippi’s workforce earned less than 15% an hour. Only Puerto Rico, an American commonwealth, had a lower-paid workforce, with 76.5% of workers earning less than $15 an hour. In Texas, where the minimum wage is $7.25 (the same as the federal rate), 60% of women of color earned less than $15 an hour. However, in Washington, DC, the minimum wage is $15.20 an hour, the highest in the country, and only 8.5% of the workforce was paid less than $15 an hour (due to a lower tipped wage). [1] [3]
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since 2009. However, federal law allows some workers to be paid less than $7.25 an hour, including full-time students and some farm and home care workers. The federal minimum wage for tipped workers, generally restaurant workers, has been $2.13 an hour since 1991, a rate that assumes...
The HYDRA Commissioner has clarified that HYDRA will not interfere with houses built in old layouts on ULC (Urban Land Ceiling) lands , nor with unregularised vacant plots in such layouts. He urge...