Low-Wage Workers and Poverty in US – Harder to Escape

Climbing above the poverty line has become more daunting in recent years, as the composition of the nation’s low-wage work force has been transformed by the Great Recession, shifting demographics and  other factors. More than half of those who make $9 or less an hour are 25 or older, while the proportion who are teenagers has declined to just 17 percent from 28 percent in 2000, after adjusting for inflation, according to Janelle Jones and John Schmitt of the Center for Economic Policy Research.

Today’s low-wage workers are also more educated, with 41 percent having at least some college, up from 29 percent in 2000. “Minimum-wage and low-wage workers are older and more educated than 10 or 20 years ago, yet they’re making wages below where they were 10 or 20 years ago after inflation,” said Mr. Schmitt, senior economist at the research center. “If you look back several decades, workers near the minimum wage were more likely to be teenagers — that’s the stereotype people had. It’s definitely not accurate anymore.”

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Low-Wage Workers Are Finding Poverty Harder to Escape – NYTimes.com.

Related articles

• Minimum Wage and Poverty in US – The income boost would be less than $1.00 for each $1.00 increase in gross earnings writes Congressional Research Service
• Minimum Wage in US / Much of the empirical evidence suggests that it fails to alleviate net poverty says CATO
• Minimum wage in US – Over 500 economists sign a petition to the President against an increase
• Minimum Wage Increase in US / The CBO’s estimates of the effects on employment and family income
• US / Income inequality is now near a record high reports a Senate Joint Economic Committee
• US / Low-paying jobs and the minimum-wage battle
• UK / Minimum wage does not keep up with the cost of living
• Minimum Wages and Living Wages in US / A map
• US – Yellen backs CBO’s minimum wage report