Federal Minimum Wage for .4 Percent of American Workers

Of the nation’s 137.9 million workers, 80.4 million are paid on an hourly basis. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that just over half a million of these hourly workers earn just the federal minimum wage. That works out to 0.4 percent of the workforce — one out of every 263 workers.

And it’s even lower among full-time workers. Fewer than one out of every 500 Americans with a full-time job are paid the minimum wage. It’s just as rare among workers 25 and older.

However, Americans overwhelmingly believe the number is much larger. Eighty-nine percent (89 percent) of American adults think that more than one out of every 10 workers are paid at the minimum.

In reality, a majority of minimum wage workers are 24 and under.

Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.

Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.