low-wage workers are not simply supplementing otherfamily income—their jobs are essential for their family's basicneeds. (Photo: Shutterstock)

A new study by the Brookings Institution findsthat 44 percent of Americans have jobs that qualify as"low-wage."

The study said that 55 million people in the U.S. fall into thatcategory, with median hourly wages of $10.22, and median annualearnings of about $18,000.

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"The existence of low-wage work is hardly a surprise, but mostpeople—except, perhaps, low-wage workers themselves—underestimatehow prevalent it is," the report said. It added that despitepopular perceptions, low wage workers are not just students orpeople at the beginning of careers. "A majority are adults in theirprime working years, and low-wage work is theprimary way they support themselves and their families," the studysaid.

Hard to escape, impossible to live without

The Brookings report suggests that in many cases, low-wageemployment is not a springboard to better jobs. "In our analysis,over half of low-wage workers have levels of education suggestingthey will stay low-wage workers," the report said.

And low-wage workers are not simply supplementing other familyincome—their jobs are essential for their family's basic needs."These workers get by on very low incomes: about $30,000 for afamily of three and $36,000 for a family of four," the report said."Twenty-six percent of low-wage workers (14 million people) are theonly earners in their families, getting by on median annualearnings of about $20,000. Another 25 percent (13 million people)live in families in which all workers earn low wages, with medianfamily earnings of about $42,000."

Low-wage workers are common in every part of the country

The researchers looked at data from 400 metropolitan areas andfound that the percentage of low-wage workers ranged from a low of30 percent of a community's workforce to a high of 62 percent.Smaller communities in the southern and western U.S. tended to havehigher numbers of low-wage workers.

But even large metropolitan areas with booming economies canhave high numbers of low-wage workers. "Places with some of thehighest wages and most productive economies are home to largenumbers of low-wage workers: nearly one million in the Washington,D.C. region; 700,000 each in Boston and San Francisco; and 560,000in Seattle," the report said. "Addressing the challenge of lowwages combined with high housing prices is a key issue in theseplaces."

Where are the jobs that provide economic security?

The Brookings report noted that addressing the problem oflow-wage jobs raises complex questions. It said, for example, thatmore could be done to provide workers with education—but added thatmore education or skills aren't a panacea. "The conversation can'tend with the assumption that if only workers had more skills,everything would be fine," the report said. "What kinds of jobs arewe generating, do they pay enough to live on, and to whom are theyavailable?

The study mentioned research that found for every good job thereare 3.4 working-age adults with less than a bachelor's degree. Thereport's authors concluded that it might be necessary to rethinkthe fundamentals of the country's social and economic policies andfocus on growth that raises the standard of living for allparticipants.

"The data presented in this analysis highlight the scale of theissue: Nearly half of all workers earn wages that are not enough,on their own, to promote economic security," the report said. "Aspolicymakers and leaders of the private, social, and civic sectorsseek to promote more inclusive economic growth, they need to keepthese workers in mind."

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