August 23, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)
Majority of working 15- to 17-year olds earn above minimum wage
Of the working 15-,
16-, and 17-year olds in 1998, a majority earned in excess of the minimum
wage.
[Chart data—TXT]
In 1998, median earnings of 15- to
17-year-olds combined were $5.57 per hour. Earnings increased with age:
15-year-olds earned a median of $5.38 per hour, 16-year-olds earned $5.52,
and 17-year-olds earned $5.65 per hour.
Even among 15-year-olds, 59 percent of
young workers earned more than the 1998 minimum wage of $5.15. A quarter
earned less than the minimum wage, as some occupations—including many
food service jobs—are exempt from the minimum wage or may pay a training
wage for a specified period. The proportion of employed youths that earned
more than the minimum wage increased to 71 percent of 16-year olds and to
three-quarters of those aged 17.
Data on how much youth earn are a product
of the Current
Population Survey program.
Additional information is available from Chapter 4 of the Report
on the Youth Labor Force.
Of interest
Spotlight on Statistics: National Hispanic Heritage Month
In this Spotlight, we take a look at the Hispanic labor force—including labor force participation, employment and unemployment, educational attainment, geographic location, country of birth, earnings, consumer expenditures, time use, workplace injuries, and employment projections.
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