• 18
  • October
    2011

As the economy remains in the struggling phase, with job loss at some of the highest rates ever, employers are turning towards hiring more minimum wage workers. According to the advocacy group National Employment Law Project's data based on federal statistics, more jobs in the lower pay scale are being offered.

The National Employment Law Project data showed that 76 percent of the new jobs that were created in the beginning seven months of 2010 offered hourly pay in the range of $8.92 to $15 per hour. The average national hourly wage of $22.60 puts the new, lower pay job offerings into perspective.

Those filling the jobs are not just entry level applicants, three-quarters of the minimum wage workers are older than 20 years of age and 60 percent of the totals are women. With the heavier reliance on minimum wage workers, several states discussed increasing the minimum hourly wage, and a number of them have even enacted legislation. California proposed minimum wage increased earlier this year but have yet to act upon them.

The states that did enact legislation included Colorado, Montana, Ohio, Washington and Oregon. The new increased minimum wage requirements are to take effect in 2012 and range from 28 cent increased to 37 cent increases. While those numbers may seem small, when added up a minimum wage worker would earn another $582-$770 per year.

When minimum wage requirements increase, employers are legally bound to include the raises for their minimum wage workers. When they fail to do so, it is considered a violation of wage and hour laws.

Source: CNN Money, "Minimum wage to rise in eight states," Tami Luhby, Oct. 3, 2011