Trends: Bureau of Labor Statistics

Minimum Wage Workers by Industry

In 2024, 94.7 percent of the 843 thousand hourly-paid workers at or below the federal minimum wage worked in the private sector and 5.3 percent in government. Leisure and hospitality alone held 65.4 percent of them, and 5.6 percent of that industry's hourly-paid workers were at or below the minimum. Table 5 of BLS Report 1115 lists the private industry sectors and the three levels of government.

Industry, 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
IndustryTotal 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
Private sector70,6047987772187.994.793.294.81.10.11.0
Agriculture and related industries864122111.11.51.91.41.40.21.3
Nonagricultural industries69,7407857571086.893.291.393.41.10.11.0
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction3180000.40.00.00.00.00.00.0
Construction5,6200007.00.00.00.00.00.00.0
Manufacturing8,4482722510.53.22.03.30.30.00.3
Durable goods5,290150156.61.80.02.00.30.00.3
Nondurable goods3,158122103.91.42.01.30.40.10.3
Wholesale and retail trade12,32048133515.35.716.04.60.40.10.3
Wholesale trade1,4612111.80.21.20.10.10.10.1
Retail trade10,85946123413.55.414.94.40.40.10.3
Transportation and utilities4,390192175.52.22.42.20.40.00.4
Information7724041.00.50.00.50.50.00.5
Financial activities3,271111104.11.31.31.30.30.00.3
Professional and business services6,851412398.54.82.55.10.60.00.6
Education and health services14,8425855418.56.95.67.10.40.00.4
Leisure and hospitality9,7585515050112.165.460.565.95.60.55.1
Other services3,150261263.93.10.83.40.80.00.8
Public sector9,7444563912.15.36.85.20.50.10.4
Federal1,982131122.51.51.21.50.60.10.6
State2,985143103.71.63.91.30.50.10.3
Local4,777191175.92.21.62.30.40.00.4

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.

The industry rows follow the Census industry classification based on NAICS. Private sector splits into agriculture and nonagricultural industries, and the nonagricultural sectors are indented under it; Government splits into federal, state and local. A sector row with a zero means fewer than 500 such workers were estimated, not that none exist. Leisure and hospitality (restaurants, bars, hotels, recreation) dominates because tipped occupations are concentrated there, and a tipped worker reports the cash wage, not the cash wage plus tips. Compare the occupation page: an industry counts everyone an establishment employs, an occupation counts the job itself, so a cook in a restaurant is in leisure and hospitality here and in food preparation there.

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