U.S. Has Highest Share Working In Low-Wage Jobs, OECD Says

According to the OECD, the U.S. is number one -- at low-wage work.

It's not always great to be number one.

Out of all OECD countries, the U.S. had the highest share of employees toiling away at low-wage work in 2009, according to OECD data cited by Mark Thoma, an economist at the University of Oregon. The graph was originally published in a January paper by John Schmitt, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

One in four U.S. employees were low-wage workers in 2009, according to the OECD. That is 20 percent higher than in the number-two country, the United Kingdom. At 4 percent, Belgium has the smallest share of its in employees working in low-wage jobs. Low-wage work is defined as earning less than two-thirds of the country's median hourly wage.

The number of employees working in low-wage jobs has been rising since 1979, according to Schmitt. And low-wage workers are better educated than ever. The percentage of low-wage workers with at least some college education has spiked 71 percent since 1979 to 43.2 percent of all low-wage workers, according to a recent analysis by Schmitt.

Schmitt drew the following conclusions from the U.S.' number-one position in low-pay work: The U.S. minimum wage is too low, economic growth doesn't necessarily lift poor people's wages, less social spending by the government is correlated with worse wages for poor people, low-wage work usually is not a stepping-stone to well-paying jobs, and working a low-wage job can often create additional problems other than the paltry pay.

The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 per hour since 2009, according to the Labor Department. That amounts to just $15,080 per year for a person that works 40 hours per week during every week of the year: roughly equivalent to the poverty line for a two-person household.

 

Comments

[Ghostberry]

11:14 AM on 09/03/2012

When i graduated high-school in 1998, gas cost about a dollar a gallon, rent cost me about 300$ a month, and they could not even fill the job demand. 500$ signing bonuses to work in a call center at 10$ an hour. Now gas is 4$ a gallon my rent is 650, my food bill is about 300%, and guess what they are paying at a call center....10$ an hour.

The wealth is still in this country, but it has stopped flowing, and is now being hoarded like a pile of gold with a couple dragons laying around deciding which peasants to eat next, meanwhile the peasants are busy fighting each-other for the right to be eaten by their favorite dragon.

[Aneesia]

11:00 AM on 09/03/2012

Thank the shills of the US Congress and their benefactors, US Corporations, for the number of low wage workers...and it will get much worse if Mitt gets into power with his Corporate buddies.

[lifersoffspring3]

12:00 PM on 04/18/2012

George Bush Sr. calls this the new world order,he recently backed Romney. Dick Cheney has secret energy meetings that occurred during the last administration,he backs Romney.George Bush Jr. is lying low because the Republican party thinks he is bad for publicity while him and his daddy's oil wells make a killing,but his foreign policy makes a KILLING!!! I for one know there is a judgement day to come as a christian soul I have to ask...Where is the world court? And where is common sense? Dick Cheney gets a new heart while so many are dead because of him and his cohort! And people are proud to call themselves Republicans? HOW MANY MILES ON A GALLON OF BLOOD?

[Ralphiec88]

10:38 PM on 04/17/2012

The definition of "low wage" used is very misleading. It's the percentage of people in a country making less than 2/3 the median income of that country. The USA is second only to wealth haven Luxembourg in median income. This means that "low wage" workers in the US are making more than some of the supposedly superior countries on the list.

[jimdavis11]

11:46 AM on 04/18/2012

True but if wages kept up with the economy the median family income would be $92,000 a year instead of $46,400.
BTW Luxembourg has a GDP per capita of $84,700 while the US has a GDP per capita of $48,100.

[Ralphiec88]

03:11 PM on 04/18/2012

Lux is a tiny country known for its banking and tax havens. I'd take those numbers with a grain of salt. I certainly wouldn't hold it up as an example of income equality, unless you limit equality to the ultra rich.

[skylark]

02:53 PM on 05/29/2012

I think your second sentence is probably very out of date, or is very open to dispute.

[Ralphiec88]

09:25 PM on 05/30/2012

That definition is what was used in the study.  I agree it's questionable.  It seems almost engineered to make certain countries look bad since it sets the goalposts in different places for different countries, but then compares them all as if all countries were measured the same.

[blair3b]

02:43 PM on 04/17/2012

We have a problem with jobs in this country - no doubt about it. The current administration is more inclined to focus on Labor constituencies with a progressive agenda. This is like focusing on Sex when you have an arousal problem... it just makes it worse. The problem is attracting business to this country in a way that competes with other countries who are doing it successfully (versus pumping tax $'s into hand-picked companies that match politically correct criteria).

[Mr e MaN]

10:28 AM on 04/18/2012

Some things have to be believed to be seen can you reference any examples of this. Perhaps one way is to stop the free trade nonsense that lets American companies employ Communists rather than Americans. If you want to sell it here, make it here, or pay a tariff. It is un-American. Until some one stands up and says that, the comsumer society will continue it's death spiral.

[chamberwindow]

01:26 PM on 04/17/2012

So, if everybody is making just enough to pay rent and maybe car insurance, who's buying things? I know that when I was living the minimum wage American dream, I bought almost nothing. I had jeans that were seven years old that I literally patched up. I still keep them in a box somewhere. My point is that without enough money to actually purchase goods, what use are the masses to a "consumer driven economy"?

[OldTulsan]

01:53 PM on 04/17/2012

The U.S. economy cannot be driven by consumers anymore.

[SaveRMiddle]

02:00 PM on 04/17/2012

True! I've read our party is over and there's a huge shift to cater to consumers in China. They have $ for more than food and shelter!

[bigjakeIII]

02:01 PM on 04/17/2012

why are most retailers reporting sales gains?

[ricsshhhtick]

01:13 PM on 04/17/2012

I came across a headline today. which read, "U.S. Has Highest Share Working In Low-Wage Jobs, OECD Says"!

Reading it caused me to stop and think. About, the how and why this issue became possible in a country, that was once the envy of the world! And, my conclusion! Well, we can only blame those people who ignorantly voted for and, elected leaders back in the year 2000! Yes, you know who you are!
Remember we were all warned, by oh so many in the news. About what would happen, back in the year 2000, elections. If Republicans were to gain control over our country's political system! Yes, we were all,, arduously warned! Don't throw caution to the wind!

As you sit in what ever conditions you live today! Whether you've lost savings, your retirement your home Job and, family! Remember you only have yourself to blame, if you voted for conservative and, for the ones who allowed big business to turn the Country,Into the biggest casino, It's your problem! End the game of; high stakes mortgages or, no interest savings. Which are all supported by the high and mighty! Remeber 2000!
We have another chance to correct the mistake! How? By not voting for people who come from a party that allows, the unsuspecting to fall victim! From being robbed by, the clever and oh so well educated, conected,, the entitled!
Vote for America,the peoples candidate!!!

[OldTulsan]

01:44 PM on 04/17/2012

From Charles Ferguson, creator of the "Inside Job" documentar­y...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-ferguson/the-financial-crisis-and-_1_b_782927.html
Charles Ferguson: The Financial Crisis and America's Political Duopoly

"...My answer is this: far from being in an era of brutal partisan warfare, as convention­al wisdom holds and as watching the nightly television news might suggest, the United States is now in the grip of a political duopoly in which both parties are thoroughly complicit. They play a game: they agree to fight viciously over certain things to retain the allegiance of their respective bases, while agreeing not to fight about anything that seriously endangers the privileges of America's new financial elites. Whether this duopoly will endure, and what to do about it, are perhaps the most important questions facing Americans. The current arrangemen­t all but guarantees the continuing decline of the United States as a nation, and of the welfare of the bottom 90% of its citizens.

[snip]

In my personal conversati­ons, I sense an emerging consensus based on nothing more complicate­d than a sense of basic honesty, fairness, and common sense, qualities which the American people still have in abundance. Let us hope that this can be translated into some organized force that can put an end to the present political cartel. "

[Ralphiec88]

10:41 PM on 04/17/2012

If you swallowed the headline without looking at what this "metric" really means, then you might want to go back to that "stop and think" part again.

[ricsshhhtick]

12:09 PM on 04/18/2012

It's never easy to accept the realities of lifes circumstances! Especially, when an advanced education doesen't open those doors! Then what? One must ask, what's changed? Hmmm!
Well, it's maybe it's the equation of diversification bought by wealth. That silly entity, that's invested into making shakers into movers! Can we all become advisers to the king pins of manufactured wealth? If high finance requires / depends on the factor of labor. . Well, then just move it offshore!! Eliminate the omen and burden effectin cost to profitable returns! Oooh begone you concern of risks! Why must life bring such heavy burdens, for those cursed with vast wealth?? Why!
Ooh to be free from the clutches mirrored by enormous welath! Why,, why me?? Why did old uncle Ebeneesier, bestow such a dreadful buren on his descendants! I wish this money didn't toil,so effective and relentlessly on my behalf! Now, back to the issue of, who to vote for? Really? Do the math!!

[AZreb]

12:47 PM on 04/17/2012

Good news - at least we are #1 in something! (sarcasm)

[OldTulsan]

01:40 PM on 04/17/2012

The U.S., a first-world country, has lots of Number 1s....

The U.S. is Number 1 in the cost of health care:

http://www.visualeconomics.com/healthcare-costs-around-the-world_2010-03-01/
Healthcare Costs Around the World - VisualEconomics.com

The U.S. is Number 1 in medical bankruptcies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcjMoihbIZc
YouTube - Al Franken on medical bankruptcy

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/bankruptcy_study.html
Medical Bills Leading Cause of Bankruptcy­, Harvard Study Finds

The U.S. is Number 1 one in abortions:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031202287.html
T.R. Reid - Universal health care tends to cut the abortion rate - washingtonpost.com

The U.S. is Number 1 in prison populations:

http://www.luimbe.com/blog/2010/07/28/were-1-usas-prison-population/
We're #1: USA's Prison Population ½ luimbe.com

The U.S. is Number 1 in military spending.

[Ralphiec88]

10:42 PM on 04/17/2012

Like median income whi,ch skews this ridiculous metric. (realism)

[AZreb]

08:28 AM on 04/18/2012

Since the median income has dropped and prices risen, how is this skewed?

[mfitz11]

12:38 PM on 04/17/2012

Do you have any idea how far behind the rest of the world America is in terms of Min wage?
Just as an example, min wage in France is $12.50 per hour.
The min wage in Australia is $15.50 per hour and Australia has not even sniffed a recession.
Essentially a min wage working in Australia working 50 weeks per year will earn more than the MEDIAN American income (which is $26,600 per year).
So, a min wage working in Australia is earning more than 50% of working Americans.
People in America don't realize just how far behind they are in terms of wages.

[OldTulsan]

12:48 PM on 04/17/2012

The day a majority of Americans learn to use comparative policy analysis to examine how workers fair in other countries could be the start of a second revolution.

[skylark]

03:07 PM on 05/29/2012

Fanned and faved.

[rsquaredg]

12:11 PM on 04/17/2012

It would be helpful for you to be specific about who holds low wage jobs. I don't think too many people will be upset about high school and college students being employed in low wage jobs, so what percent does that contribute to the 25% outlined in this story. And are low wage earning statistics gathered similarly for every country reported. It is a short but slippery step from reporting the news to inciting class warfare.

[Sinister Minister]

01:14 PM on 04/17/2012

Really a "Let them eat cake: attitude is much better for the country.

[skylark]

03:08 PM on 05/29/2012

I have worked low wage jobs. I can tell you categorically that none of my co workers were high school or college students. It wasn't just a temporary "slumming" situation for them.

[blndgenie]

11:31 AM on 04/17/2012

Another factual legacy of the smoking crater Owe bam a Administration! Jimmuh Carter thanks you moving him to second from the bottom!

[chamberwindow]

12:56 PM on 04/17/2012

Obama was like 18 years old when the decline in living standards began.

[blndgenie]

01:10 PM on 04/17/2012

sorry but no. He took a bad economy and garrotted it. Or you can say it was 'out of his control', in which case he's an ineffective and incompetent president. Choose.

[carolgregor]

09:28 AM on 04/17/2012

Cost of living?? Would not want a mansion right now, might make people mad.

[sherlockhemlock]

06:43 AM on 04/17/2012

All the talk about jobs among most U. S. politicians and most political pundits is a bogus distraction at best; the real issue is wages.

[Terry Bonager]

10:24 AM on 04/17/2012

And to add to your point if the min wage was raised, so would be the taxes and you would no better off.

[Sinister Minister]

01:20 PM on 04/17/2012

Apparently you have bought into the logic that if someone is offered to make another 70 cents out of every extra dollar the will make, that they will refuse to take the 70 cents.

Would they do that out of principle, or would they take the money out of necessity? Would the extra 70 cents they get being spent into the economy instead of being held in offshore accounts be bad for the economy because it wasn't a dollar? Would the extra 30 cents going to taxes raise the deficit?

I fail to understand your logic.

[sherlockhemlock]

06:40 AM on 04/17/2012

The so-called poverty line measurement indicated above is far too low. It has been so for decades, since the rise of neoconservatism/neoliberalism in the 1970s.

[chamberwindow]

01:18 PM on 04/17/2012

There is an obvious link between the rise of people like Milton Friedman and the end of the American middle class.

[Hardy Blacklord]

06:08 AM on 04/17/2012

"Immigrants from all over the world come to America and make it."

The top twelve emigrant countries in 2011 were Mexico (173,753), People's Republic of China (87,345), Philippines (74,607), India (61,369), Cuba (45,614), Colombia (43,151), Dominican Republic (38,069), El Salvador (31,783), Vietnam (30,695), Jamaica (24,976), South Korea (24,386), Guatemala (24,146).

That's not all the world, but mostly people from poor 3rd World countries immigrating to the US.
This isn't the 1950's anymore, not much immigration from educated European countries going on.