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News Release Information

14-1103-BOS
Friday, June 13, 2014

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (617) 565-4141

Minimum Wage Workers in New Hampshire-2013

Of the 369,000 workers paid hourly rates in New Hampshire in 2013, 6,000 earned exactly the prevailing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, while 5,000 earned less, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that the 11,000 workers earning the federal minimum wage or less made up 3.0 percent of all hourly-paid workers in the state. Nationwide, those earning the federal minimum or less accounted for 4.3 percent of the hourly-paid workforce. (The New Hampshire minimum wage is equal to the prevailing Federal minimum wage.)

In 2003, 7,000 hourly-paid workers earned the prevailing federal minimum wage or less in the state–the lowest level since data were first available in 2000. In 2007, the federal minimum wage began increasing after holding steady for nearly a decade. The initial result was that more New Hampshire workers were earning the federal minimum wage or less, peaking at 19,000 in 2010.

From 2012 to 2013, the portion of hourly-paid workers in New Hampshire who earned at or below the federal minimum wage decreased from 3.5 to 3.0 percent. The percentage of workers earning less than the federal minimum dropped 0.8 percentage point in 2013, while the share earning exactly the minimum wage rose 0.2 point.

Of the 11,000 workers earning the prevailing federal minimum wage or less in New Hampshire in 2013, 8,000, or 72.7 percent, were women. These women represented 4.1 percent of all women paid hourly rates in the state. There were 4,000 men earning the prevailing minimum wage or less in New Hampshire; this number made up 2.3 percent of all men who were paid hourly rates in the state. (See table A.)

Overall, employed wage and salary workers earning hourly rates in the state had median hourly earnings of $14.56 in 2013; nationally, the median was $12.93. The median hourly rates for men and women in New Hampshire in 2013 were $15.25 and $13.57, respectively. For the nation, the comparable figures were $14.00 per hour for men and $12.12 per hour for women.

Table A. Employed wage and salary workers(1) paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the prevailing Federal minimum wage and median earnings of all hourly-paid workers in New Hampshire, by sex, annual averages, 2003-2013
New Hampshire Number of workers (in thousands) Percent of workers paid hourly rates Median earnings (in dollars)
Total paid hourly rates At or below prevailing Federal minimum wage At or below prevailing Federal minimum wage
Total At minimum wage(2) Below minimum wage Total At minimum wage(2) Below minimum wage
Total, both sexes                

2003

367 7 2 5 1.9 0.5 1.4 12.01

2004

376 9 1 8 2.4 0.3 2.1 12.18

2005

377 11 2 9 2.9 0.5 2.4 12.89

2006

370 8 1 7 2.2 0.3 1.9 12.91

2007

372 9 1 8 2.4 0.3 2.2 12.93

2008

380 11 - 11 2.9 - 2.9 13.41

2009

364 15 4 11 4.1 1.1 3.0 13.93

2010

356 19 5 14 5.3 1.4 3.9 13.76

2011

368 14 4 10 3.8 1.1 2.7 14.12

2012

370 13 5 8 3.5 1.4 2.2 13.99

2013

369 11 6 5 3.0 1.6 1.4 14.56
Total, men                

2003

173 3 1 2 1.7 0.6 1.2 13.25

2004

174 3 1 2 1.7 0.6 1.1 13.94

2005

180 4 1 3 2.2 0.6 1.7 13.99

2006

173 2 - 2 1.2 - 1.2 14.34

2007

176 3 1 2 1.7 0.6 1.1 14.18

2008

176 2 - 2 1.1 - 1.1 14.96

2009

166 4 1 3 2.4 0.6 1.8 15.16

2010

164 5 1 4 3.0 0.6 2.4 14.83

2011

173 4 1 3 2.3 0.6 1.7 15.11

2012

171 4 2 2 2.3 1.2 1.2 14.91

2013

176 4 2 2 2.3 1.1 1.1 15.25
Total, women                

2003

193 5 1 4 2.6 0.5 2.1 11.13

2004

202 6 - 6 3.0 - 3.0 11.14

2005

197 7 1 6 3.6 0.5 3.0 11.98

2006

197 6 1 5 3.0 0.5 2.5 11.97

2007

196 6 - 6 3.1 - 3.1 12.03

2008

204 9 - 9 4.4 - 4.4 12.49

2009

198 11 3 8 5.6 1.5 4.0 12.84

2010

193 14 4 10 7.3 2.1 5.2 12.99

2011

195 11 3 8 5.6 1.5 4.1 13.41

2012

199 9 3 6 4.5 1.5 3.0 13.05

2013

193 8 4 4 4.1 2.1 2.1 13.57

Footnotes:
(1) All self-employed persons are excluded, whether or not their businesses are incorporated.
(2) Dash indicates no data or data that do not meet publication standard.
 

In 2013, New Hampshire’s proportion of hourly-paid workers earning at or below the prevailing federal minimum wage was the seventh-lowest among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Tennessee had the highest proportion of hourly-paid workers earning at or below the prevailing federal minimum wage, 7.4 percent, followed by Idaho at 7.1 percent. The states with the lowest percentage of workers earning the federal minimum or below included Oregon, California, and Washington, all less than 2.0 percent. It should be noted that, as of January 1, 2014, 21 states and the District of Columbia had laws establishing minimum wage standards that exceeded the federal level of $7.25 per hour. (See table 1 and chart 2.)


Technical Note

The estimates in this release are obtained from the Current Population Survey (CPS), which provides the basic information on the labor force, employment, and unemployment. This survey is conducted monthly for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau, using a scientifically selected national sample of about 60,000 eligible households representing all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Information on earnings is collected from one-fourth of the CPS sample each month. Data in this summary are annual averages.

Statistics based on the CPS data are subject to both sampling and nonsampling error. The differences among data for the states reflect, in part, variations in the occupation, industry, and age composition of each state?s labor force. In addition, sampling error for the state estimates is considerably larger than it is for the national data.

Minimum wage worker data, particularly levels, for each year are not strictly comparable with data for earlier years because of the introduction of revised population controls used in the CPS. For technical documentation and related information, including reliability of the CPS estimates, see www.bls.gov/cps/documentation.htm.

It should be noted that the presence of workers with reported wages below the federal minimum wage does not necessarily indicate violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, as there are exemptions to the minimum wage provisions of the law. Estimates of the numbers of minimum and subminimum wage workers presented in this release pertain to workers paid at hourly rates; salaried and other non-hourly workers are excluded. Consequently, the actual number of workers with earnings at or below the prevailing minimum is likely understated.

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, $4.25 in April 1991, $4.75 in October 1996, and $5.15 in September 1997. On July 24, 2007, the federal minimum wage increased to $5.85 per hour; on July 24, 2008, to $6.55 per hour; and on July 24, 2009, to $7.25 per hour.

The principal definitions used in connection with the earnings series in this release are described below:

Median hourly earnings. The median is the amount which divides a given earnings distribution into two equal groups, one having earnings above the median and the other having earnings below the median. The median is less sensitive to extreme wages than the mean; this makes it a better measure for highly skewed distributions.

Wage and salary workers. Workers age 16 and over who receive wages, salaries, commissions, tips, payment in kind, or piece rates on their sole or principal job. The group includes employees in both the private and public sectors. All self-employed workers are excluded whether or not their businesses are incorporated.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.

 

Table 1. Employed wage and salary workers paid hourly rates with earnings at or below the prevailing federal minimum wage by state, 2013 annual averages
State Number of workers (in thousands) Percent distribution Percent of workers paid hourly rates
Total
paid
hourly
rates
At or below minimum wage Total
paid
hourly
rates
At or below minimum wage At or below minimum wage
Total At
minimum
wage
Below
minimum
wage
Total At
minimum
wage
Below
minimum
wage
Total At
minimum
wage
Below
minimum
wage

Total, 16 years & over

75,948 3,300 1,532 1,768 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 4.3 2.0 2.3

Alabama

1,125 77 44 33 1.5 2.3 2.9 1.9 6.8 3.9 2.9

Alaska

202 6 4 2 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.1 3.0 2.0 1.0

Arizona

1,421 58 24 34 1.9 1.8 1.6 1.9 4.1 1.7 2.4

Arkansas

651 44 30 14 0.9 1.3 2.0 0.8 6.8 4.6 2.2

California

8,915 118 48 70 11.7 3.6 3.1 4.0 1.3 0.5 0.8

Colorado

1,238 39 7 32 1.6 1.2 0.5 1.8 3.2 0.6 2.6

Connecticut

845 22 5 17 1.1 0.7 0.3 1.0 2.6 0.6 2.0

Delaware

203 11 5 6 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 5.4 2.5 3.0

District of Columbia

108 4 1 3 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 3.7 0.9 2.8

Florida

4,058 181 39 142 5.3 5.5 2.5 8.0 4.5 1.0 3.5

Georgia

2,162 103 54 49 2.8 3.1 3.5 2.8 4.8 2.5 2.3

Hawaii

325 15 10 5 0.4 0.5 0.7 0.3 4.6 3.1 1.5

Idaho

411 29 21 8 0.5 0.9 1.4 0.5 7.1 5.1 1.9

Illinois

3,026 96 22 74 4.0 2.9 1.4 4.2 3.2 0.7 2.4

Indiana

1,731 108 61 47 2.3 3.3 4.0 2.7 6.2 3.5 2.7

Iowa

921 50 30 20 1.2 1.5 2.0 1.1 5.4 3.3 2.2

Kansas

773 35 21 14 1.0 1.1 1.4 0.8 4.5 2.7 1.8

Kentucky

1,150 49 32 17 1.5 1.5 2.1 1.0 4.3 2.8 1.5

Louisiana

1,000 53 27 26 1.3 1.6 1.8 1.5 5.3 2.7 2.6

Maine

390 13 4 9 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.5 3.3 1.0 2.3

Maryland

1,334 66 30 36 1.8 2.0 2.0 2.0 4.9 2.2 2.7

Massachusetts

1,573 54 12 42 2.1 1.6 0.8 2.4 3.4 0.8 2.7

Michigan

2,531 96 17 79 3.3 2.9 1.1 4.5 3.8 0.7 3.1

Minnesota

1,533 64 43 21 2.0 1.9 2.8 1.2 4.2 2.8 1.4

Mississippi

637 39 20 19 0.8 1.2 1.3 1.1 6.1 3.1 3.0

Missouri

1,561 73 31 42 2.1 2.2 2.0 2.4 4.7 2.0 2.7

Montana

285 6 2 4 0.4 0.2 0.1 0.2 2.1 0.7 1.4

Nebraska

567 29 17 12 0.7 0.9 1.1 0.7 5.1 3.0 2.1

Nevada

757 20 8 12 1.0 0.6 0.5 0.7 2.6 1.1 1.6

New Hampshire

369 11 6 5 0.5 0.3 0.4 0.3 3.0 1.6 1.4

New Jersey

1,908 92 34 58 2.5 2.8 2.2 3.3 4.8 1.8 3.0

New Mexico

460 20 2 18 0.6 0.6 0.1 1.0 4.3 0.4 3.9

New York

4,188 178 88 90 5.5 5.4 5.7 5.1 4.3 2.1 2.1

North Carolina

2,251 130 73 57 3.0 3.9 4.8 3.2 5.8 3.2 2.5

North Dakota

221 7 4 3 0.3 0.2 0.3 0.2 3.2 1.8 1.4

Ohio

3,304 137 32 105 4.4 4.2 2.1 5.9 4.1 1.0 3.2

Oklahoma

947 60 29 31 1.2 1.8 1.9 1.8 6.3 3.1 3.3

Oregon

978 12 4 8 1.3 0.4 0.3 0.5 1.2 0.4 0.8

Pennsylvania

3,471 189 96 93 4.6 5.7 6.3 5.3 5.4 2.8 2.7

Rhode Island

286 12 2 10 0.4 0.4 0.1 0.6 4.2 0.7 3.5

South Carolina

1,128 65 40 25 1.5 2.0 2.6 1.4 5.8 3.5 2.2

South Dakota

254 12 6 6 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.3 4.7 2.4 2.4

Tennessee

1,575 117 51 66 2.1 3.5 3.3 3.7 7.4 3.2 4.2

Texas

6,270 400 223 177 8.3 12.1 14.6 10.0 6.4 3.6 2.8

Utah

773 36 22 14 1.0 1.1 1.4 0.8 4.7 2.8 1.8

Vermont

182 7 2 5 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.3 3.8 1.1 2.7

Virginia

1,806 112 58 54 2.4 3.4 3.8 3.1 6.2 3.2 3.0

Washington

1,793 30 18 12 2.4 0.9 1.2 0.7 1.7 1.0 0.7

West Virginia

446 22 12 10 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.6 4.9 2.7 2.2

Wisconsin

1,728 91 59 32 2.3 2.8 3.9 1.8 5.3 3.4 1.9

Wyoming

176 9 5 4 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.2 5.1 2.8 2.3

Note: Data exclude all self-employed persons whether or not their businesses are incorporated. These data are based on a sample and therefore are subject to sampling error; the degree of error may be quite large for less populous states.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, June 13, 2014