A new study released by the Brookings Institution found that low wage work is very pervasive in the United States, with 44% of all workers being classified as low wage. The median wages for those classified as low wage was a $10.22 hourly wage and annual median income at $18,000.
The study also found that the majority of low wage workers were not teenagers, but were adults during their prime working years who needed to support themselves and their families.
While many low wage workers make up a disproportionate amount of the labor force in the Southern and Western regions, there are nearly 1 million low wage workers in Washington D.C and approximately 700,000 in Boston and San Francisco where the rents are very high.
The capitalist economic system is predicated on maintaining a large pool of the unemployed and low wage workers to maintain profitability. While the bourgeois press and economists attempt to downplay the prevalence of low wage work and provide “solutions”, it is a problem inherent to the capitalist mode of production.
For as long as the capitalist mode of production continues to exist, there will be unemployment and large numbers of low-wage workers who need to struggle to make ends meet.