Arkansans still earn less despite better U.S. wage outlook

Almost one-third of Arkansas workers — an estimated 450,657 — earn less than $17 an hour. Nearly 40% of women and 44% of Black workers fall below that line, per data from Oxfam .

• Only Mississippi performs worse.

Why it matters: A single person with no children must earn $19.10 per hour to make ends meet in the Natural State, according to MIT's Living Wage Calculator , a commonly accepted barometer.

The state's minimum wage rose to $11 per hour from $10 on Jan. 1, 2021.

The big picture: Nationally, wages have improved. Just 13% of workers in the U.S. are now earning less than $15 an hour; two years ago, that number was 31.9%.

• Even accounting for inflation — $15 an hour in 2024 has the same buying power as about $14 in 2022 — remarkable progress.
• Wages are higher now in part because of inflation, and a strong labor market where lower-wage employees are still in high demand. But it's also due to the work of advocates who pushed for minimum wage increases for more than a decade.

Plus: Pandemic-era benefits helped these workers be more choosy about finding better-paying jobs coming out of the record unemployment of 2020.

Driving the news: Oxfam revised its definition of a low-wage worker this year — from those earning less than $15 an hour to those earning less than $17.

• Fewer than 1 in 4 workers in the U.S. now fall into that category, the group says. That's more than 39 million people, including 34 million who are over age 20, according to the report . (In 2022, many more workers — 52 million — earned less than $15 an hour.)
• Oxfam's report, released recently, analyzes both Census Bureau and Labor Department data to look at the state of low-wage workers in the U.S.

Zoom in: States with the highest proportion of low-wage workers include Mississippi, Oklahoma and Texas, which go by the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour — that low-wage floor pulls down pay for other lower-wage earners.

• Other states have far higher minimum wages. Washington state's minimum wage is $16.28, for example, and only about 11% of its workforce is earning less than $17 an hour.

Reality check: While wages are up, low wages are still — well, low.

• These folks are facing much higher prices for essentials like food and housing.
• Oxfam hardly sees these numbers as acceptable — the report is titled "The Crisis of Low Wages." The group is advocating for minimum-wage increases and other changes.