The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. If a
minimum wage worker is employed full-time (forty hours per week
for 52 weeks), thatworker would earn $15,080
annually.
The Census Bureau reports poverty rates for current
workers aged 16 and older. In 2010,
among all workers aged 16 and older the poverty rate
as 7.0 percent unchanged from 2009.
In 2010 (the most recent year for which statistics have been
compiled), 46.2 million people in the
United States were in poverty and the nation’s official poverty
rate was 15.1%. This was the fourth consecutive
annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which
poverty estimates have been published.
There are two official measures of poverty: poverty
guidelines and poverty
thresholds. Both of these measures are
intended to identify the level of income necessary to meet basic
needs.
