There are more paid below minimum wage than are being paid the minimum wage.

[dkf]

In 2011, 73.9 million American workers age 16 and over were paid at hourly rates, representing 59.1 percent of all wage and salary workers.1 Among those paid by the hour, 1.7 million earned exactly the prevailing Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. About 2.2 million had wages below the minimum.2 Together, these 3.8 million workers with wages at or below the Federal minimum made up 5.2 percent of all hourly-paid workers. Tables 1 through 10 present data on a wide array of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics for hourly-paid workers earning at or below the Federal minimum wage. The following are some highlights from the 2011 data.

Minimum wage workers tend to be young. Although workers under age 25 represented only about one-fifth of hourly-paid workers, they made up about half of those paid the Federal minimum wage or less. Among employed teenagers paid by the hour, about 23 percent earned the minimum wage or less, compared with about 3 percent of workers age 25 and over. (See table 1 and table 7.)

About 6 percent of women paid hourly rates had wages at or below the prevailing Federal minimum, compared with about 4 percent of men. (See table 1.)

About 5 percent of White hourly-paid workers earned the Federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 6 percent of Blacks and about 3 percent of Asians. Among hourly-paid workers of Hispanic ethnicity, about 5 percent earned the minimum wage or less. (See table 1.)

Among hourly-paid workers age 16 and over, about 11 percent of those who had less than a high school diploma earned the Federal minimum wage or less, compared with about 5 percent of those who had a high school diploma (with no college) and about 2 percent of college graduates. (See table 6.)

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2011.htm#2

[Scuba]

1. And corporate profits are at record levels. Some trickle-down.

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Note the reference to food service workers making tips...

being paid below minimum and, although they don't say so outright, it's hinted that they are most of them, so it's not quite as bad as made out.

But, this only applies to hourly workers-- hotel maids are paid by the room and drivers (limo, cab, truck, bus...)are often paid by the trip. Such pieceworkers tend not to be included in these reports.

BTW, Agricultural workers for SMALL farms are not subject to the minimum wage, so with all the talk about the greed of big business, if you work for the little guy you have almost no protection at all.