News Release Information
12-1672-DAL
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Contacts
Further information:
- (972) 850-4800
- BLSInfoDallas@bls.gov
- www.bls.gov/ro6
Minimum Wage Workers in Texas - 2011
Of the 5.9 million workers paid hourly rates in Texas in 2011, 259,000 earned exactly the prevailing
Federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, while 214,000 earned less, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Regional Commissioner Stanley Suchman noted that the 473,000 workers earning
the Federal minimum wage or less made up 8.0 percent of all hourly-paid workers in the state.
Nationwide, those earning the Federal minimum or less accounted for 5.2 percent of the hourly-paid
workforce. (The Texas minimum wage is equal to the prevailing Federal minimum wage.)
In 2006, 173,000 hourly-paid workers earned the prevailing Federal minimum wage or less in the state–the
lowest level since data were first available in 1998; they accounted for 3.0 percent of all workers
paid an hourly wage. (See chart 1.) In 2007, the Federal minimum wage began increasing after holding
steady for nearly a decade. The initial result in Texas was that more workers fell into this category,
peaking at 550,000 in 2010.
From 2010 to 2011, the portion of hourly-paid workers in Texas who earned at or below the Federal
minimum wage declined from 9.5 to 8.0 percent. The percentage of workers earning less than the Federal
minimum fell 1.3 percentage points in 2011, while the share earning exactly the minimum wage was little
changed. As a result, 2011 was the first year that the percentage of workers with earnings at the Federal
minimum rate exceeded the percentage with wages below the minimum.
Of the 473,000 workers earning the prevailing Federal minimum wage or less in Texas in 2011, 291,000,
or nearly 62 percent, were women. These women represented 10.3 percent of all women paid hourly
rates in the state. Men accounted for 183,000, or 38 percent, of all Texas workers earning the prevailing
minimum wage or less; they made up 5.9 percent of men who were paid hourly rates. (See table A.)
Overall, wage and salary workers earning hourly rates in the state had median hourly earnings of $11.82
in 2011; nationally, the median was $12.71. The median hourly rates for men and women in Texas in
2011 were $12.32 and $10.85, respectively. For the nation, the comparable figures were $13.80 per hour
for men and $11.98 per hour for women.
Texas | Number of workers (in thousands) | Percent of workers paid hourly rates | Median earnings (in dollars) |
|||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total paid hourly rates |
At or below prevailing Federal minimum wage | At or below prevailing Federal minimum wage | ||||||
Total (2) | At minimum wage |
Below minimum wage |
Total (2) | At minimum wage |
Below minimum wage |
|||
Total, both sexes | ||||||||
2001 |
5,101 | 215 | 87 | 128 | 4.2 | 1.7 | 2.5 | $9.48 |
2002 |
5,002 | 205 | 76 | 129 | 4.1 | 1.5 | 2.6 | 9.76 |
2003 |
5,258 | 235 | 74 | 161 | 4.5 | 1.4 | 3.1 | 9.82 |
2004 |
5,293 | 198 | 67 | 131 | 3.7 | 1.3 | 2.5 | 9.95 |
2005 |
5,467 | 176 | 55 | 121 | 3.2 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 10.04 |
2006 |
5,724 | 173 | 52 | 121 | 3.0 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 10.22 |
2007(3) |
5,585 | 221 | 46 | 175 | 4.0 | 0.8 | 3.1 | 10.54 |
2008(3) |
5,527 | 262 | 54 | 208 | 4.7 | 1.0 | 3.8 | 11.00 |
2009(3) |
5,596 | 474 | 155 | 319 | 8.5 | 2.8 | 5.7 | 11.34 |
2010 |
5,763 | 550 | 268 | 282 | 9.5 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 11.20 |
2011 |
5,896 | 473 | 259 | 214 | 8.0 | 4.4 | 3.6 | 11.82 |
Total, men | ||||||||
2001 |
2,712 | 90 | 40 | 50 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 10.11 |
2002 |
2,623 | 82 | 21 | 61 | 3.1 | 0.8 | 2.3 | 10.11 |
2003 |
2,704 | 96 | 26 | 70 | 3.6 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 10.18 |
2004 |
2,753 | 77 | 29 | 48 | 2.8 | 1.1 | 1.7 | 10.41 |
2005 |
2,835 | 67 | 19 | 48 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 10.87 |
2006 |
3,011 | 69 | 22 | 47 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 11.18 |
2007(3) |
2,895 | 69 | 16 | 53 | 2.4 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 11.54 |
2008(3) |
2,932 | 94 | 16 | 78 | 3.2 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 11.99 |
2009(3) |
2,944 | 187 | 50 | 137 | 6.4 | 1.7 | 4.7 | 12.10 |
2010 |
3,022 | 223 | 105 | 118 | 7.4 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 12.13 |
2011 |
3,081 | 183 | 102 | 81 | 5.9 | 3.3 | 2.6 | 12.32 |
Total, women | ||||||||
2001 |
2,389 | 125 | 47 | 78 | 5.2 | 2.0 | 3.3 | 8.55 |
2002 |
2,379 | 123 | 55 | 68 | 5.2 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 8.90 |
2003 |
2,553 | 139 | 48 | 91 | 5.4 | 1.9 | 3.6 | 8.95 |
2004 |
2,541 | 122 | 38 | 84 | 4.8 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 9.33 |
2005 |
2,632 | 110 | 37 | 73 | 4.2 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 9.24 |
2006 |
2,713 | 104 | 30 | 74 | 3.8 | 1.1 | 2.7 | 9.80 |
2007(3) |
2,690 | 152 | 30 | 122 | 5.7 | 1.1 | 4.5 | 9.86 |
2008(3) |
2,595 | 168 | 38 | 130 | 6.5 | 1.5 | 5.0 | 10.02 |
2009(3) |
2,652 | 287 | 105 | 182 | 10.8 | 4.0 | 6.9 | 10.15 |
2010 |
2,741 | 326 | 163 | 163 | 11.9 | 5.9 | 5.9 | 10.24 |
2011 |
2,816 | 291 | 158 | 133 | 10.3 | 5.6 | 4.7 | 10.85 |
Footnotes: |
In 2011, Texas’ proportion of hourly-paid workers earning at or below the prevailing Federal minimum wage ranked third among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Georgia had the highest proportion of hourly-paid workers earning at or below the prevailing Federal minimum wage, 9.6 percent, followed by Mississippi at 8.5 percent and Texas at 8.0 percent. Other states with shares of 7.0 percent or higher were Louisiana, West Virginia, South Carolina, Missouri, Virginia, and Kansas. The states with the lowest percentage of workers earning the Federal minimum or below included Oregon, California, Washington, and Alaska, all less than 2.0 percent. It should be noted that, as of January 1, 2012, 18 states and the District of Columbia had laws establishing minimum wage standards that exceeded the Federal level of $7.25 per hour. (See table 1 and chart 2.)
Technical Note
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data on minimum wage earners are derived from the Current Population
Survey (CPS). This survey is conducted monthly for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census
Bureau, using a national sample of about 60,000 households, with coverage in all 50 states and the
District of Columbia. The earnings data are collected from one-fourth of the CPS monthly sample. Data
in this summary are annual averages.
Statistics based on the CPS data are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. The differences
among data for the states reflect, in part, variations in the occupation, industry, and age composition of
each state’s labor force. In addition, sampling error for the state estimates is considerably larger than it is
for the national data.
Minimum wage worker 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. For technical
documentation and related information, including reliability of the CPS estimates, see
www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm.
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.
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; on July 24,
2008, to $6.55 per hour; and on July 24, 2009, to $7.25 per hour.
The principal definitions used in connection with the earnings series in this release are described below:
Median hourly earnings. The median is the amount which divides a given earnings distribution into two
equal groups, one having earnings above the median and the other having earnings below the median.
The median is less sensitive to extreme wages than the mean; this makes it a better measure for highly
skewed distributions.
Wage and salary workers. Workers age 16 and over who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips,
payment in kind, or piece rates. Data refer to earnings on a person’s sole or principal job. The group
includes employees in both the private and public sectors but, for the purposes of the earnings series,
excludes all self-employed persons, regardless of whether or not their businesses are incorporated.
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.
State | Number of workers (in thousands) | Percent distribution | Percent of workers paid hourly rates | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total paid hourly rates |
At or below minimum wage | Total paid hourly rates |
At or below minimum wage | At or below minimum wage | |||||||
Total(1) | At minimum wage |
Below minimum wage |
Total(1) | At minimum wage |
Below minimum wage |
Total (1) |
At minimum wage |
Below minimum wage |
|||
Total, 16 years & up |
73,926 | 3,829 | 1,677 | 2,152 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 5.2 | 2.3 | 2.9 |
Alabama |
1,147 | 74 | 43 | 31 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 6.5 | 3.7 | 2.7 |
Alaska |
212 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 1.4 |
Arizona |
1,517 | 85 | 20 | 65 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 1.2 | 3.0 | 5.6 | 1.3 | 4.3 |
Arkansas |
746 | 49 | 33 | 16 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 6.6 | 4.4 | 2.1 |
California |
8,706 | 139 | 53 | 86 | 11.8 | 3.6 | 3.2 | 4.0 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
Colorado |
1,222 | 49 | 9 | 40 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 3.3 |
Connecticut |
870 | 25 | 4 | 21 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2.9 | 0.5 | 2.4 |
Delaware |
213 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 5.2 | 1.4 | 3.8 |
District of Columbia |
94 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 4.3 | 1.1 | 3.2 |
Florida |
3,891 | 246 | 73 | 173 | 5.3 | 6.4 | 4.4 | 8.0 | 6.3 | 1.9 | 4.4 |
Georgia |
2,041 | 196 | 105 | 91 | 2.8 | 5.1 | 6.3 | 4.2 | 9.6 | 5.1 | 4.5 |
Hawaii |
321 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 4.7 | 2.5 | 2.2 |
Idaho |
379 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 5.0 | 3.2 | 1.8 |
Illinois |
3,095 | 109 | 29 | 80 | 4.2 | 2.8 | 1.7 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 0.9 | 2.6 |
Indiana |
1,730 | 108 | 54 | 54 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 6.2 | 3.1 | 3.1 |
Iowa |
941 | 53 | 28 | 25 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 5.6 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
Kansas |
802 | 56 | 27 | 29 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.3 | 7.0 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
Kentucky |
1,077 | 63 | 30 | 33 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 5.8 | 2.8 | 3.1 |
Louisiana |
1,011 | 75 | 33 | 42 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 7.4 | 3.3 | 4.2 |
Maine |
381 | 14 | 3 | 11 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
Maryland |
1,274 | 65 | 27 | 38 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 5.1 | 2.1 | 3.0 |
Massachusetts |
1,539 | 60 | 11 | 49 | 2.1 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 3.9 | 0.7 | 3.2 |
Michigan |
2,550 | 117 | 29 | 88 | 3.4 | 3.1 | 1.7 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 1.1 | 3.5 |
Minnesota |
1,544 | 78 | 47 | 31 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 1.4 | 5.1 | 3.0 | 2.0 |
Mississippi |
686 | 58 | 37 | 21 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 2.2 | 1.0 | 8.5 | 5.4 | 3.1 |
Missouri |
1,543 | 109 | 54 | 55 | 2.1 | 2.8 | 3.2 | 2.6 | 7.1 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
Montana |
271 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 3.7 | 2.2 | 1.5 |
Nebraska |
532 | 29 | 15 | 14 | 0.7 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 5.5 | 2.8 | 2.6 |
Nevada |
670 | 22 | 9 | 13 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 1.3 | 1.9 |
New Hampshire |
368 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 3.8 | 1.1 | 2.7 |
New Jersey |
1,795 | 99 | 41 | 58 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 5.5 | 2.3 | 3.2 |
New Mexico |
459 | 20 | 6 | 14 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 4.4 | 1.3 | 3.1 |
New York |
3,930 | 199 | 91 | 108 | 5.3 | 5.2 | 5.4 | 5.0 | 5.1 | 2.3 | 2.7 |
North Carolina |
2,055 | 140 | 65 | 75 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 6.8 | 3.2 | 3.6 |
North Dakota |
208 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 5.3 | 2.9 | 2.4 |
Ohio |
3,224 | 150 | 27 | 123 | 4.4 | 3.9 | 1.6 | 5.7 | 4.7 | 0.8 | 3.8 |
Oklahoma |
828 | 56 | 36 | 20 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 6.8 | 4.3 | 2.4 |
Oregon |
1,010 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 1.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 |
Pennsylvania |
3,400 | 193 | 97 | 96 | 4.6 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 4.5 | 5.7 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
Rhode Island |
289 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 3.8 | 1.0 | 2.8 |
South Carolina |
1,078 | 79 | 42 | 37 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 2.5 | 1.7 | 7.3 | 3.9 | 3.4 |
South Dakota |
253 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 5.1 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
Tennesee |
1,455 | 101 | 48 | 53 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 6.9 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
Texas |
5,896 | 473 | 259 | 214 | 8.0 | 12.4 | 15.4 | 9.9 | 8.0 | 4.4 | 3.6 |
Utah |
765 | 35 | 15 | 20 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 4.6 | 2.0 | 2.6 |
Vermont |
182 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 1.6 |
Virginia |
1,697 | 121 | 57 | 64 | 2.3 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 7.1 | 3.4 | 3.8 |
Washington |
1,686 | 31 | 6 | 25 | 2.3 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 1.5 |
West Virginia |
462 | 34 | 20 | 14 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 7.4 | 4.3 | 3.0 |
Wisconsin |
1,711 | 78 | 32 | 46 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 4.6 | 1.9 | 2.7 |
Wyoming |
167 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 6.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
Footnotes: |
|||||||||||
NOTE: Data exclude all self-employed persons whether or not their businesses are incorporated. Users are reminded that these data are based on a sample and therefore are subject to sampling error; the degree of error may be quite large for less populous States. It is not possible to determine clearly 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 the prevailing Federal minimum wage may not in fact be covered by Federal or State minimum wage laws. Also, there are a number of States that have minimum wages that exceed the Federal minimum wage. 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. Hourly earnings do not include overtime pay, commissions, or tips. |
Last Modified Date: September 11, 2012