Apr 04, 2022

Question of the Day: What percent of workers in your state earn less than $15 per hour?

Find out how your state compares. 

Answer: Answers will vary (click here)

Questions

  • What is the starting wage for teen part-time jobs in your community?
  • The percentage of workers earning less than $15/hour ranges from 14.2% (Washington) to 45.3% (Mississippi). What do you think are the factors that impact this statistic?
  • $15 an hour equates to about $30,000 per year for a full-time (40 hours per week) job. How much do you think you need to earn to live comfortably in your area? 

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Oxfam):

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for 13 years. That‘s $290 a week or $15,000 a year. And millions of workers–domestic caregivers, farmworkers, student workers, tipped wage workers, workers with disabilities–are not even entitled to $7.25 per hour.

--------------------

Have your students create a salary-based budget with this NGPF activity

--------------------

Check out all of NGPF's events and resources for Financial Literacy month

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

author image More by Tim right solid arrow
Mail Icon

Subscribe to the blog

Join the more than 12,000 teachers who get the NGPF daily blog delivered to their inbox:

SIGN UP