Trends: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Minimum Wage Workers by Hours Worked

In 2024, workers usually working 0 to 34 hours a week on their primary job were 50.8 percent of hourly-paid workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage, and 2.3 percent of such part-week workers were at or below it, against 0.5 percent of those working 35 hours or more (37.5 percent of the total); where hours vary the share was 2.6 percent. Nationally 1.0 percent of hourly-paid workers were at or below the minimum. Table 9 of BLS Report 1115 gives each hours band.

Usual hours worked per week on the primary job, 2024

Number of workers (in thousands)Number of workers (in thousands) / At or below minimum wagePercent distributionPercent distribution / At or below minimum wagePercentage of workers paid hourly rates / At or below minimum wage
Usual weekly hoursTotal paid hourly ratesTotalAt minimum wageBelow minimum wageTotal paid hourly ratesTotalAt minimum wageBelow minimum wageTotalAt minimum wageBelow minimum wage
Total, 16 years and older80,34884382760100.0100.0100.0100.01.00.10.9
Hours vary3,7909812864.711.715.011.32.60.32.3
0 to 34 hours18,5054285137723.050.862.449.62.30.32.0
0 to 4 hours453193160.62.23.32.14.10.63.5
5 to 9 hours1,134245191.42.86.02.42.10.41.6
10 to 14 hours1,811327252.33.88.13.31.80.41.4
15 to 19 hours2,4285116343.06.019.94.52.10.71.4
20 to 24 hours5,472155181376.818.421.518.12.80.32.5
25 to 29 hours2,521603583.17.23.67.62.40.12.3
30 to 34 hours4,688880885.810.40.011.51.90.01.9
35 hours or more58,0523161929872.337.522.639.10.50.00.5
35 to 39 hours5,818838757.29.810.09.81.40.11.3
40 hours or more52,2342341022365.027.712.729.30.40.00.4
40 hours45,506198918956.623.510.924.80.40.00.4
41 hours or more6,728361348.44.21.74.50.50.00.5
41 to 44 hours7422020.90.30.00.30.30.00.3
45 to 48 hours2,150180182.72.20.02.40.90.00.9
49 to 59 hours2,6117163.30.81.70.70.30.10.2
60 hours or more1,2248081.51.00.01.10.70.00.7

Reading this table

The rows count wage and salary workers paid hourly rates: people aged 16 and over who report being paid by the hour at their main job in the Current Population Survey, about 58 percent of all wage and salary workers; salaried workers and the self-employed are outside the table. At minimum wage means an hourly rate exactly equal to the prevailing federal minimum, $7.25 since July 2009; below means a lower reported rate, which may be lawful (tipped work, full-time students, workers under 20 in their first 90 days, jobs outside FLSA coverage) or rounding in the answer; the report does not separate the reasons. Rates are before tips, overtime and commissions. Number of workers is in thousands; percent distribution is each row's share of the national total in that column; percentage of workers paid hourly rates is the share of the row's own hourly workers at or below the minimum. A state minimum above $7.25 is not counted; the minimum-wage pages give each rate. 2024 annual averages.

Usual hours are the hours the respondent usually works per week at the primary job; hours vary is a separate answer for people without a usual schedule, and BLS's note explains why these bands differ from the full- and part-time rows of Table 1, which classify by hours on all jobs. The 0 to 34 band splits into five-hour steps and the 35 or more band into 35 to 39, 40 and three overtime bands, so the indented rows sum to the band above. Hours over 40 in a workweek earn one and a half times the regular rate for covered, nonexempt workers (overtime explainer). The table reports the hourly rate, not weekly pay.

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