This statistic displays the number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates at the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2018. In 1979, about 3.99 million workers were paid hourly rates at the official minimum wage. In 2018, about 434,000 workers were paid hourly rates at the prevailing minimum wage. The prevailing Federal minimum wage was 7.25 U.S. dollars per hour in 2018.
Number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates at the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2018
(in 1,000s)
The prevailing Federal minimum wage was $2.90 in 1979, $3.10 in 1980, and $3.35 in 1981–89. The minimum wage rose to $3.80 in April 1990, to $4.25 in April 1991, to $4.75 in October 1996, to $5.15 in September 1997, to $5.85 in July 2007, to $6.55 in July 2008, and to $7.25 in July 2009. The prevailing Federal minimum wage was $7.25 per hour in 2018.
Wage and salary workers, excluding incorporated self employed
Profit from additional features by authenticating your Admin account
Please authenticate by going to "My account" → "Administration".
Then you will be able to mark statistics as favourites and use personal statistics alerts.
*Duration: 12 months, billed annually, single license
Yes, let me download!
...and make my research life easier.
Exclusive Corporate feature
This feature is limited to our corporate solutions.
Please contact us to get started with full access to dossiers, forecasts, studies and international data.
Corporate Account
Statista Accounts:
Access All Statistics. Starting from $468 / Year
Basic Account
Get to know the platform
You only have access to basic statistics.
Single Account
Your perfect start with Statista
Instant access to 1m statistics
Download in XLS, PDF & PNG format
Detailed references
$59$39 / Month *
in the first 12 months
Corporate Account
Full access
Corporate solution including all features.
* All products require an annual contract; Prices do not include sales tax.
Statista Accounts:
Access All Statistics. Starting from $468 / Year
Learn more about how Statista can support your business.
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (November 20, 2019). Number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates at the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2018 (in 1,000s) [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved August 11, 2020, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/188199/wage-and-salary-workers-paid-hourly-rates-at-minimum-wage-since-1979/
Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates at the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2018 (in 1,000s)." Chart. November 20, 2019. Statista. Accessed August 11, 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/188199/wage-and-salary-workers-paid-hourly-rates-at-minimum-wage-since-1979/
Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2019). Number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates at the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2018 (in 1,000s). Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: August 11, 2020. https://www.statista.com/statistics/188199/wage-and-salary-workers-paid-hourly-rates-at-minimum-wage-since-1979/
Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Number of Wage and Salary Workers in The United States Paid Hourly Rates at The Prevailing Federal Minimum Wage from 1979 to 2018 (in 1,000s)." Statista, Statista Inc., 20 Nov 2019, https://www.statista.com/statistics/188199/wage-and-salary-workers-paid-hourly-rates-at-minimum-wage-since-1979/
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Number of wage and salary workers in the United States paid hourly rates at the prevailing Federal minimum wage from 1979 to 2018 (in 1,000s) Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/188199/wage-and-salary-workers-paid-hourly-rates-at-minimum-wage-since-1979/ (last visited August 11, 2020)
We use cookies to personalize contents and ads, offer social media features, and analyze access to our website. In your browser settings you can configure or disable this, respectively, and can delete any already placed cookies. For details, please see your browser’s Help section (by pressing F1). Please see our privacy statement for details about how we use data.
