There Are 20.6 Million Low-Wage Workers (& Getting Worse)

There has been a lot of talk lately about raising the minimum wage to a "livable" level -- recognizing that even a single person can't live on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour anywhere in this country. The most common figure being quoted for that "livable" wage by the politicians trying to raise the minimum wage is $10.10 an hour. Personally, I think $10.10 an hour would just be a barely adequate minimum wage, and would quickly become inadequate unless it was tied to the rate of inflation.

Unfortunately, the Republicans took control of the Congress (both houses) in the last election, and that probably kills  any chance of the minimum wage being raised until at least 2017 (assuming the 2016 election goes better). That's because the Republicans oppose raising the minimum wage, and many of them would like to eliminate the minimum wage altogether. The only good thing at this point is that President Obama would veto any effort like that.

So, how many people are going to be out of luck for the next couple of years? How many people are still going to have to work for a poverty wage -- a wage that will grow even harder to live on as inflation eats away at it? According to the Pew Research Center, using the  Census Bureau's 2013 Current Population Survey, that would be about 20.6 million American workers -- and when you add in their families, you come up with a significant portion of this country's population.

I would love to tell you this problem will get better at people get back to work, but the truth is that most of the new jobs are low-wage (and low-benefit) jobs, which pay far less than the good jobs lost in the Bush recession. It is estimated that by 2020, just a few years away, around a quarter of the American work force will be toiling away in low-wage jobs (jobs that pay less than the afore-mentioned $10.10 an hour).

It's going to be a tough couple of years for working class Americans.