I have written about rich people, I have written about people who are out of work, and I have written about homeless people. Today I am going to write about people who are at the bottom of America's income ladder. Those would be the people on minimum wage.
Here is a rather long list of each state's minimum wage. Washington State is at $8.55 an hour, and the City of San Francisco is at $9.79. Most of America is at the Federal minimum of $7.75. Check out your own state, and see how you are treating the working poor. Take a look at Oklahoma. There they can pay $2.00 an hour if your job is not covered by federal rules. I guess that would be farm labor of some types.
| State | Level | Notes |
| Alabama | None | Federal minimum applies.[2] |
| Alaska | $7.75 | In 2009, a state law was passed to keep the state minimum wage 50 cents above the federal level.[3] |
| Arizona | $7.25[4] | Raised pursuant to FMWA.[5] Previous rate pursuant to Arizona Proposition 202. This rate will be automatically adjusted annually based on the U.S. Consumer Price Index. This rate increase does not affect student workers in places such as libraries and cafeterias because those positions are given by universities, which are State entities.[6] |
| Arkansas | $7.25 | Applicable to employers of 4 or more employees |
| California | $8.00[7] | San Francisco $9.79[8]. IWC Order No. 4-2001 1,A,1,f states that exempt employees must make twice the state minimum wage. |
| Colorado | $7.24[9] | Tipped employees earn $4.22/hour. |
| Connecticut | $8.25 | This rate was increased to $8.25 on January 1, 2010. Tipped employees earn $5.69/hour. |
| Delaware | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| District of Columbia | $8.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. This rate is automatically set at $1 above the Federal minimum wage rate if the District of Columbia rate is lower. |
| Florida | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. If and when it is below the federal rate, it rises with inflation. $4.23 per hour for tipped employees. [10] |
| Georgia | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. (As of 2010) Only applicable to employers of 6 or more employees. If less than 6 then there is no minimum at all. Tipped employees earn $2.13. |
| Hawaii | $7.25 | Tipped employees earn $7.00. [11] |
| Idaho | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| Illinois | $8.25 | Employers may pay anyone under the age of 18 $0.50 less. Tipped employees earn $4.95 (employers may claim credit for tips, up to 40% of wage[12]). |
| Indiana | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| Iowa | $7.25[13] | Most small retail and service establishments grossing less than 300,000 annually are not required to pay the minimum wage. Tipped employees can be paid 60% of the minimum wage, which is currently $4.35. |
| Kansas | $7.25 | Increased to $7.25 on January 1, 2010.[14] For many years, the minimum wage was set to $2.65, the lowest in the nation. |
| Kentucky | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| Louisiana | None | Federal minimum applies. |
| Maine | $7.50 | Tipped employees earn $3.75. |
| Maryland | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. Tipped employees earn $3.63. [15] |
| Massachusetts | $8.00[16] | $2.63 for service (tipped) employees, $1.60 for agricultural employees. |
| Michigan | $7.40 | ($2.65 for service (tipped) employees, Minors 16-17 years of age may be paid 85% of the minimum hourly wage rate (currently $6.29 per hour). Training wage for new employees ages 16 to 19 of $4.25/hour for first 90 days of employment.[17] |
| Minnesota | $7.25 | |
| Mississippi | None | Federal minimum applies. |
| Missouri | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. This rate is automatically adjusted annually based on the U.S. Consumer Price Index rounded to the nearest five cents. |
| Montana | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. This rate is automatically adjusted annually based on the U.S. Consumer Price Index. Tip income may not be applied as an offset to an employee's pay rate. The minimum pay is $4/hour for business with less than $110,000 in annual sales.[4] |
| Nebraska | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| Nevada | $8.25 | Rises with inflation.[18] The minimum wage increased to $8.25 on July 1, 2010. Employers who offer health benefits can pay employees $7.25.[19] |
| New Hampshire | $7.25 | The minimum wage is automatically replaced with the Federal minimum wage rate if it is higher than the State minimum wage rate.[4] |
| New Jersey | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| New Mexico | $7.50 | Not linked to the federal rate.[4] $9.85 in Santa Fe[20] (now covering all employees, since expansion to employers with less than 25 employees, as of January 1, 2008).[21][22] |
| New York | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. New York also has a minimum for exempt employees $536.10/week as of January 1, 2007. |
| North Carolina | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| North Dakota | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| Ohio | $7.30 | $7.25 for 14 and 15 year olds and those whose employers gross less than $267,000[23]. This rate is automatically adjusted annually on every January 1 based on the U.S. Consumer Price Index. $3.65 plus tips for tipped employees. It will remain at $7.30 for 2010.[24] |
| Oklahoma | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. Federal minimum wage used as reference; no actual amounts written in law.[4] $2.00/hour for work not covered by federal minimum wage OK Statutes 40-197.5 |
| Oregon | $8.40 | Rises with inflation. |
| Pennsylvania | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| Rhode Island | $7.40 | $2.89 for employees receiving tips. |
| South Carolina | None | Federal minimum applies. |
| South Dakota | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. |
| Tennessee | None | Federal minimum applies. |
| Texas | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. Federal minimum wage used as reference; no actual amounts written in law.[4][25] |
| Utah | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. Federal minimum wage used as reference after legislative action; no actual amounts written in law. Current rate took effect on September 8, 2007.[4] |
| Vermont | $8.06 | Rises with inflation.[4] Tipped employees are paid $3.91.[26] |
| Virginia | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. Federal minimum wage used as reference.[4] |
| Washington | $8.55 | Employees aged 14 or 15 may be paid 85% of the minimum wage, which for 2009 is $7.27 per hour. Increases annually by a voter-approved cost-of-living adjustment based on the federal Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). |
| West Virginia | $7.25 | Applicable to employers of 6 or more employees at one location not involved in interstate commerce.[4] |
| Wisconsin | $7.25 | Raised pursuant to FMWA. Tipped employees are paid $2.33.[27] |
| Wyoming | $5.15 | Not linked to the federal rate.[4] $2.13 for employees receiving tips. |
Most people on minimum wage are making $7.25 an hour, and I was making over eight dollars an hour pounding nails as a carpenter back in the early 1970s. The federal minimum wage back then was, $1.60 an hour.
Now I know there are all sorts of arguments about how we would all be better off without a minimum wage standard enforced, and I guess in a perfect world that would be true. However, the people making these arguments are not working for minimum wage and probably haven't since their college days or before. I believe there are millions of Americans working at minimum wage right now, and some of them have been at that rate their whole life. The only raises they have received happened when the federal government raised that rate.
People live their whole life and even raise their children on one or two minimum wage jobs. I know it is hard to believe, but it is happening all over America. You ever wonder why we are such a violent society? Try living at the bottom with your kids for a few years and see if your attitude doesn't change a bit.
Many corporations have huge profits because of these low paying jobs. I know they will tell you that they pay their people well, but what about the contracts they give out? Do they have any idea of what people are getting paid who work for the people selling them parts and supplies?
Next time you go fishing and are putting your boat in the water, take a look at the people fishing off shore. Some of them are your minimum wage earners. A boat will never be in their picture.
People who work for minimum wage never go to a NFL game or a fancy restaurant. They don't have a new car, and their kids don't get a new bike or even new clothes for the start of school. If they have a home, it is in a bad section of town, because they could never afford the taxes in a nice neighborhood.
Growing up I learned about the class system in India. Maybe we don't have Untouchables like they do in India, but America has every bit as rigid of the class system as India does. Poor neighborhoods, have poor schools. Have you ever driven through East Saint Louis. If you do, I would suggest doing it in the day light. It seems safer. Every large city has its crime infested areas, and that is where you will find most of the minimum wage earners.
If you start out there, it is hard to get out. Don't kid yourself, America likes having low wage workers. Right now the Federal minimum wage has gotten high enough that rich people don't want to pay that much for domestic help, so they hire illegal aliens who work for way less. They are another subculture who are now even farther down the ladder than those on minimum wage. Sad huh?
So, why am I writing this? I guess just so people don't forget about the people at the bottom. When you see somebody down and out, think about the fact that they very well might be working 40 or 50 hours a week, but their week's pay may be only your day's pay or less.
Next time you are at church, and they ask for money to send people to the mission fields, think about the mission fields here in America, where the working poor are locked into their lives of poverty.
Here we are going around the world telling everyone else how they should live, but there are people living in America, the working poor, who are just as far down our income ladder as the people we are trying to help on the other side of the world are down theirs.
