Last Friday, the federal minimum wage increased by 70 cents an hour, going from $6.55 to $7.25. The increase will affect thousands of workers in Mississippi, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reports that approximately 6 percent of 2008 hourly employees in the Magnolia state worked for minimum wage or less.
All told, roughly 2.8 million people will get an immediate raise, nationwide. The Economic Policy Institute estimates, however, that 4.5 million peopleless than 4 percent of the national work forcewill see a bump in their paychecks, some of those from a "spillover effect" where other employees already making more than minimum wage may see a raise to keep a wage structure consistent.
BLS statistics shed some light on who makes minimum wage in America. About half of all minimum wage workers are under age 25. About 4 percent of female workers and 2 percent of male workers bring home minimum wage or less. Of workers over 16, 5 percent of those without a high school diploma and 2 percent with college degrees also earn minimum wage or less. Statistics for ethnic groups shows little variance.
Working 40 hours a week, $7.25 an hour grosses a $290 check, an increase of $30 over the previous $6.55 and hour, or $15,080 a year. After payroll taxes, take home pay is probably around $12,800. For anyone attempting to feed a family, that is still well below the $18,000 poverty level for a family of three.
The people who will not benefit from the increase are people who also work for tips, such as restaurant wait staff. Waiters and waitresses minimum salary is $2.13. Theoretically, tips adequately supplement their pay. In reality, though, the poverty rate for wait staff is three times the national average, according to Reuters.
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