Just 13% of workers in the U.S. are now earning less than $15 an hour

Just 13% of workers in the U.S. are now earning less than $15 an hour.

Just 13% of workers in the U.S. now earn less than $15 an hour, compared to 31.9% two years ago, according to new data from Oxfam.

Why it matters: Even when adjusting for inflation — $15 an hour in 2024 is equivalent to about $14 in 2022 — this represents significant progress.

This change is especially meaningful for the millions of Americans who rely on and spend every additional dollar they earn.

Zoom in: This year, Oxfam revised its definition of a low-wage worker 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 Wednesday, analyzes both Census Bureau and Labor Department data to examine the state of low-wage workers in the U.S.

The big picture: Wages are higher now partly because of inflation and a strong labor market where lower-wage employees are still in high demand. Additionally, it's due to the efforts of advocates who have pushed for minimum wage increases for over a decade.

Plus: Pandemic-era benefits allowed workers to be more selective in finding better-paying jobs as they emerged from the record unemployment of 2020.

"Because people had more money, they were able to hold out for higher-paying positions," says Kaitlyn Henderson, a senior researcher at Oxfam who wrote the report.

Zoom in: The states with the highest proportion of low-wage workers include places like Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas, which adhere to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. That low-wage floor pulls down pay for other lower-wage earners.