US / 5 Myths About the Minimum Wage

Myth #1: Hordes of Minimum-Wage Workers

Very few Americans are actually working for the federal minimum wage—it’s just 2.9 percent of all workers in the United States.

In other words, 97 percent of American workers make more than minimum wage.

Myth #2: The “Working Poor” Getting By on Minimum Wage

More than half of minimum-wage workers are between the ages of 16 and 24. These young people tend to work part-time, and a majority of them are enrolled in school at the same time—so the after-school burger flipper or college student with a part-time job is the real deal. A hike in the minimum wage primarily raises pay for suburban teenagers, not the working poor.

Myth #3: Minimum-Wage Workers Trapped in Poverty

The average family income of a minimum-wage worker is more than $53,000 a year. How is this possible at $7.25 an hour? Few workers with minimum-wage jobs are the primary earners in their families. This is also true of older minimum-wage earners. Three-fourths of workers 25 and older earning the minimum wage live above the poverty line. In fact, 62 percent have incomes over 150 percent of the poverty line.

Myth #4: Lifelong Minimum-Wage Earners

Minimum-wage earners don’t stay in those jobs forever. It’s easy to get the idea from politicians that “minimum-wage workers” are a permanent class of people. But in fact, two-thirds of minimum-wage workers earn a raise within a year. As they gain experience and employment skills, they become more productive and can command higher wages. Entry-level, minimum-wage jobs are the first rung on many workers’ career ladders.

Myth #5: More Single Parents on Minimum Wage

Very few single parents are working full-time in minimum-wage jobs. Unfortunately, politicians overuse that example. A greater proportion of employees in the overall workforce (5.6 percent) are single parents working full-time jobs, while for minimum-wage workers that proportion is 4 percent—because so many minimum-wage workers are secondary earners.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor 

via Busting 5 Myths About the Minimum Wage.