Bureau of Labor Statistics
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: FOR RELEASE:
Cheryl Abbot, Regional Economist April 25, 2008
Dallas, TX
(214) 767-6970
MINIMUM WAGE WORKERS IN TEXAS: 2007
In 2007, 221,000 hourly-paid workers in Texas had earnings at or below the
prevailing Federal minimum wage (1), according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (See chart A.) In the State, about 5.6 million
workers were paid at hourly rates, representing 53.9 percent of all wage and salary
workers (2). Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that workers paid at
or below the Federal minimum wage accounted for 4.0 percent of these hourly-paid
workers in Texas (3). This was one of the highest shares of workers in this pay
range in the nation. (See table 1.)
Chart A. Employed wage and salary workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or
below the prevailing Federal minimum wage in Texas, annual averages, 1998-2007
According to Current Population Survey (CPS) estimates for 2007, 75.9 million
workers in the United States were paid at hourly rates, representing 58.5 percent
of all wage and salary workers. Of those paid by the hour, 267,000 were reported
as earning exactly the prevailing Federal minimum wage. Nearly 1.5 million were
reported as earning wages below the minimum. Together, these 1.7 million workers
with wages at or below the Federal minimum made up 2.3 percent of all hourly-paid
workers.
With the exception of a slight uptick in 2003, the number of hourly-paid
workers at or below the Federal minimum wage had been steadily declining in Texas
since 1998. That trend came to a halt in 2007 as both a larger number and a higher
percentage of workers in the State received hourly wages at or below the increased
Federal minimum. (See chart A.)
The most significant reversal came among female hourly workers in the State.
Between 2006 and 2007, the number of women at or below the new Federal minimum wage
rose sharply while the number of men was unchanged. Women earning at or below the
minimum wage as a percent of all hourly-paid female workers in Texas, rose to 5.7
percent in 2007, up from 3.8 percent in 2006; the percentage for men, at 2.4
percent in 2007, was little changed over the year. As a result of the 2007
increase among women workers, they now account for about 69 percent of all Texas
hourly-paid workers who earned the prevailing Federal minimum wage or less in 2007,
up from about 60 percent in 2006. (See table A and chart B.)
Chart B. Percentage of employed wage and salary workers paid hourly rates
with earnings at or below the prevailing Federal minimum wage in Texas,
by sex, annual averages, 1998-2007
Overall, Texas wage and salary workers paid hourly rates (4) had median hourly
earnings of $10.54 in 2007; nationally, the median was $11.95. The 2007 median
hourly rates for men and for women in Texas were $11.54 and $9.86, respectively.
(See table A.) For the United States as a whole, the comparable figures were
$12.95 for men and $10.98 for women.
Table A. Employed wage and salary workers paid hourly rates with
earnings at or below the prevailing Federal minimum wage, and median
earnings of all hourly-paid workers in Texas, annual averages, 1998-2007
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| At or below Federal Minimun Wage | All hourly-paid
| (number of workers in thousands) | workers
|----------------------------------|--------------------------
| | | | Number of | Median
| | Below | At | workers | earnings
Texas | Total |Prevailing| Prevailing |(thousands) | (in dollars)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, both sexes
1998... 466 255 211 5,055 $8.23
1999... 337 186 151 4,990 8.54
2000... 297 174 123 5,112 9.01
2001... 215 128 87 5,101 9.48
2002... 205 129 76 5,002 9.76
2003... 235 161 74 5,258 9.82
2004... 198 131 67 5,293 9.95
2005... 176 121 55 5,467 10.04
2006... 173 121 52 5,724 10.22
2007... 221 175 46 5,585 10.54
Men
1998... 186 108 78 2,660 $8.97
1999... 120 68 52 2,560 9.35
2000... 114 70 44 2,667 9.83
2001... 90 50 40 2,712 10.11
2002... 82 61 21 2,623 10.11
2003... 96 70 26 2,704 10.18
2004... 77 48 29 2,753 10.41
2005... 67 48 19 2,835 10.87
2006... 69 47 22 3,011 11.18
2007... 69 53 16 2,895 11.54
Women
1998... 280 147 133 2,395 $7.50
1999... 217 118 99 2,430 7.84
2000... 183 104 79 2,445 8.18
2001... 125 78 47 2,389 8.55
2002... 123 68 55 2,379 8.90
2003... 139 91 48 2,553 8.95
2004... 122 84 38 2,541 9.33
2005... 110 73 37 2,632 9.24
2006... 104 74 30 2,713 9.80
2007... 152 122 30 2,690 9.86
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Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2007, Mississippi, at 4.5
percent, had the highest proportion of hourly-paid workers earning at or below the
prevailing Federal minimum wage, followed by Louisiana at 4.3 percent. Texas,
Massachusetts, and South Carolina tied for third with 4.0 percent of hourly-paid
workers at or below the Federal minimum. Alabama and West Virginia also tied at
3.3 percent, followed by Georgia at 3.2 percent. Rounding out the 10 states with
the highest percentages of workers at or below the Federal minimum wage were Kansas
and Nebraska, both at 3.1 percent. Montana, California, Washington, and Oregon had
the lowest rates, each with less than 1 percent of hourly-paid workers earning the
Federal minimum or below. It should be noted that as of January 1, 2008, 32 states
and the District of Columbia had laws establishing minimum wage standards that
exceeded the Federal level of $5.85 per hour (5). (See table 1 and chart C.)
Chart C. Minimum wage laws in the States, January 1, 2008
Map source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration.
==============================================================================================
(1) On July 24, 2007, the Federal minimum wage increased to $5.85 per hour from
$5.15 per hour. Data in this report reflect the average number of workers earning
the prevailing Federal minimum wage or less for the year—those who earned $5.15 or
less from January 2007 through July 2007 and those who earned $5.85 or less from
August 2007 through the end of the year.
(2) Data are for wage and salary workers, excluding the incorporated self-employed,
and refer to earnings on a person's sole or principal job.
(3) It should be noted that the presence of a sizable number of workers with
reported wages below the minimum does not necessarily indicate violations of the
Fair Labor Standards Act, as there are exemptions to the minimum wage provisions of
the law.
(4) Wage rates in this release use median values. The median is the middle of a
distribution: half the scores are above the median and half are below the median.
The median is less sensitive to extreme wages than the mean; this makes it a better
measure than the mean for highly skewed distributions.
(5) U.S. Department of Labor, Employment Standards Administration, Wage and Hour
Division: http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm.
==============================================================================================
Technical Note
The Bureau of Labor Statistics' data on minimum wage earners are derived from
the Current Population Survey (CPS), a nationwide sample survey of households that
includes questions enabling the identification of hourly-paid workers and their
hourly wage rate. Data in this summary are annual averages.
Minimum wage data, particularly levels, for each year are not strictly
comparable with data for earlier years because of the introduction of revised
population controls used in the CPS. The effect of the revised population controls
on the minimum wage estimates is unknown. However, the effect of the new
controls in 2007 on the monthly CPS estimates for the U.S. was to increase the
December 2006 employment level by 153,000 and the unemployment level by 10,000.
The updated controls had little or no effect on unemployment rates and other
ratios. For additional information, see "Adjustments to Household Survey Population
Estimates in January 2007" in the February 2007 issue of Employment and Earnings,
available on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/cps/cps07adj.pdf.
It should be noted that the presence of a sizable number of workers with
reported wages below the minimum does not necessarily indicate violations of the
Fair Labor Standards Act, as there are exemptions to the minimum wage provisions of
the law. The estimates of the numbers of minimum and subminimum wage workers
presented in the accompanying tables pertain to workers paid at hourly rates;
salaried and other non-hourly workers are excluded. As such, the actual number of
workers with earnings at or below the prevailing minimum is undoubtedly
understated. Research has shown that a relatively smaller number and share of
salaried workers and others not paid by the hour have earnings that, when
translated into hourly rates, are at or below the minimum wage. However, BLS does
not routinely estimate hourly earnings for non-hourly workers because of data
concerns that arise in producing these estimates. For further information, see
Steven Haugen and Earl Mellor, "Estimating the number of minimum wage workers,"
Monthly Labor Review, January 1990 (PDF 415K).
The prevailing Federal minimum wage was $2.90 in 1979, $3.10 in 1980, and
$3.35 in 1981-89. The minimum wage rose to $3.80 in April 1990, $4.25 in April
1991, $4.75 in October 1996, and $5.15 in September 1997. On July 24, 2007, the
Federal minimum wage increased to $5.85 per hour from $5.15 per hour. Data in this
report reflect the average number of workers earning the prevailing Federal minimum
wage or less for the year (those who earned $5.15 or less from January 2007 through
July 2007 and those who earned $5.85 or less from August 2007 through the end of
the year).
This release is available on our Web site at http://www.bls.gov/ro6/home.htm.
If you have additional questions, you can contact the Southwest Information Office
at 214-767-6970. Information in this release will be made available to sensory
impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message
referral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.
Table 1. Employed wage and salary workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the prevailing
Federal minimum wage, by State, 2007 annual averages
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| Number of workers | | Percent of workers
| (in thousands) | Percent distribution | paid hourly rates
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | At or below | | At or below | At or below
| | minimum Wage | | minimum Wage | minimum Wage
| Total|-----------------------| Total|-----------------------|------------------------
State | paid| | At | Below | paid| | At | Below | | At | Below
|hourly| |minimum|minimum|hourly| |minimum|minimum| |minimum |minimum
| rates| Total | wage | wage | rates| Total | Wage | Wage | Total | wage | wage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total, 16 years
and over...... 75,873 1729 267 1,462 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 2.3 0.4 1.9
Alabama....... 1,132 37 14 23 1.5 2.1 5.2 1.6 3.3 1.2 2.0
Alaska........ 197 2 - 2 0.3 0.1 - 0.1 1.0 - 1.0
Arizona....... 1,560 28 2 26 2.1 1.6 0.7 1.8 1.8 0.1 1.7
Arkansas...... 677 17 1 16 0.9 1.0 0.4 1.1 2.5 0.1 2.4
California.... 8,785 74 9 65 11.6 4.3 3.4 4.4 0.8 0.1 0.7
Colorado...... 1,164 25 1 24 1.5 1.4 0.4 1.6 2.1 0.1 2.1
Connecticut... 923 14 - 14 1.2 0.8 - 1.0 1.5 - 1.5
Delaware...... 234 5 - 5 0.3 0.3 - 0.3 2.1 - 2.1
District
of Columbia.. 109 3 1 2 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.1 2.8 0.9 1.8
Florida....... 4,261 114 15 99 5.6 6.6 5.6 6.8 2.7 0.4 2.3
Georgia....... 2,216 70 11 59 2.9 4.0 4.1 4.0 3.2 0.5 2.7
Hawaii........ 338 4 - 4 0.4 0.2 - 0.3 1.2 - 1.2
Idaho......... 424 12 4 8 0.6 0.7 1.5 0.5 2.8 0.9 1.9
Illinois...... 3,335 74 3 71 4.4 4.3 1.1 4.9 2.2 0.1 2.1
Indiana....... 1,826 36 7 29 2.4 2.1 2.6 2.0 2.0 0.4 1.6
Iowa.......... 933 24 2 22 1.2 1.4 0.7 1.5 2.6 0.2 2.4
Kansas........ 796 25 5 20 1.0 1.4 1.9 1.4 3.1 0.6 2.5
Kentucky...... 1,152 35 9 26 1.5 2.0 3.4 1.8 3.0 0.8 2.3
Louisiana..... 937 40 17 23 1.2 2.3 6.4 1.6 4.3 1.8 2.5
Maine......... 399 9 - 9 0.5 0.5 - 0.6 2.3 - 2.3
Maryland...... 1,317 27 2 25 1.7 1.6 0.7 1.7 2.1 0.2 1.9
Massachusetts. 1,505 60 2 58 2.0 3.5 0.7 4.0 4.0 0.1 3.9
Michigan...... 2,678 58 1 57 3.5 3.4 0.4 3.9 2.2 0.0 2.1
Minnesota..... 1,565 21 2 19 2.1 1.2 0.7 1.3 1.3 0.1 1.2
Mississippi... 691 31 16 15 0.9 1.8 6.0 1.0 4.5 2.3 2.2
Missouri...... 1,577 33 3 30 2.1 1.9 1.1 2.1 2.1 0.2 1.9
Montana....... 289 1 - 1 0.4 0.1 - 0.1 0.3 - 0.3
Nebraska...... 553 17 3 14 0.7 1.0 1.1 1.0 3.1 0.5 2.5
Nevada........ 747 12 3 9 1.0 0.7 1.1 0.6 1.6 0.4 1.2
New Hampshire. 372 9 1 8 0.5 0.5 0.4 0.5 2.4 0.3 2.2
New Jersey.... 1,697 29 4 25 2.2 1.7 1.5 1.7 1.7 0.2 1.5
New Mexico.... 479 11 2 9 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.6 2.3 0.4 1.9
New York...... 4,078 88 7 81 5.4 5.1 2.6 5.5 2.2 0.2 2.0
North Carolina 2,156 46 4 42 2.8 2.7 1.5 2.9 2.1 0.2 1.9
North Dakota.. 191 5 2 3 0.3 0.3 0.7 0.2 2.6 1.0 1.6
Ohio.......... 3,422 79 5 74 4.5 4.6 1.9 5.1 2.3 0.1 2.2
Oklahoma...... 849 25 10 15 1.1 1.4 3.7 1.0 2.9 1.2 1.8
Oregon........ 1,050 9 2 7 1.4 0.5 0.7 0.5 0.9 0.2 0.7
Pennsylvania.. 3,434 69 3 66 4.5 4.0 1.1 4.5 2.0 0.1 1.9
Rhode Island.. 315 7 - 7 0.4 0.4 - 0.5 2.2 - 2.2
South Carolina 1,178 47 10 37 1.6 2.7 3.7 2.5 4.0 0.8 3.1
South Dakota.. 241 6 1 5 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.3 2.5 0.4 2.1
Tennesee...... 1,602 39 10 29 2.1 2.3 3.7 2.0 2.4 0.6 1.8
Texas......... 5,585 221 46 175 7.4 12.8 17.2 12.0 4.0 0.8 3.1
Utah.......... 748 11 1 10 1.0 0.6 0.4 0.7 1.5 0.1 1.3
Vermont....... 181 4 - 4 0.2 0.2 - 0.3 2.2 - 2.2
Virginia...... 1,761 46 5 41 2.3 2.7 1.9 2.8 2.6 0.3 2.3
Washington.... 1,844 17 3 14 2.4 1.0 1.1 1.0 0.9 0.2 0.8
West Virginia. 478 16 9 7 0.6 0.9 3.4 0.5 3.3 1.9 1.5
Wisconsin..... 1,730 32 4 28 2.3 1.9 1.5 1.9 1.8 0.2 1.6
Wyoming....... 164 4 1 3 0.2 0.2 0.4 0.2 2.4 0.6 1.8
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NOTE: Data exclude all self-employed persons regardless of whether or not their businesses are
incorporated. Users are reminded that these data are based on a sample and are therefore subject to
sampling error; the degree of error may be quite large for less populous States. It is not possible
to clearly determine whether workers surveyed in the CPS are actually covered by the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA) or by individual State minimum wage laws. Thus, some workers reported as
earning an hourly wage of $5.15 may not in fact be covered by Federal or State minimum wage laws.
At the same time, the presence of a sizable number of workers with wages below the prevailing Federal
minimum wage does not necessarily indicate violations of the FLSA or applicable State laws, because
there are numerous exclusions and exemptions to these minimum wage statutes. Dash indicates no data
or data that do not meet publication criteria.
Last Modified Date: April 25, 2008
