Brookings' Meet the Low Wage Workforce reports that 53 million Americans, or about 44% of all workers aged 18-64, have low-wage jobs.
According to Brookings, the national average for a low-wage job is one that pays $16.03 per hour or less. The low-wage level is adjusted using city-level cost of living data. For example, a job paying $20.02 in high-cost San Jose, California is considered low wage while one paying $13 in low-cost areas of the country isn't.
Brookings found the median low-wage job pays $10.22 per hour with median annual earnings for $17,950.
This, BTW, means about 22 million Americans have jobs that pay $10.22 per hour or less.
The report map below (click to enlarge) shows the distribution of low-wage jobs across the 373 metro areas. Brookings did not include rural areas or towns not in the top 373 metro areas in this study.
One of the reasons independent work (freelancing, self-employment, etc.) has increased over the past decade is traditional jobs have become less attractive.
Wages have been stagnant, benefits cut, middle-wage jobs have hollowed and job security reduced. As this data shows, there's also a lot of jobs that simply don't pay well.
These factors lead more people to choose independent work. And as long as this is the case, there will be continued growth in the independent workforce.
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