| Sumario: | This article focuses on wage disparity among U.S. States. The share of workers earning the Federal minimum wage or less are a function of the occupational distribution and prevailing wages in each State, as well as of the existence of a wide range of minimum wage provisions at the State level. In particular, some States set minimum wage rates above the Federal minimum, currently $5.15 an hour. In 2002, 3.0 percent of U.S. wage and salary workers who were paid hourly rates earned the Federal minimum wage of $5.15 or less. Twenty-six States, including all those in the Middle Atlantic and West South Central divisions, recorded higher percentages of workers paid $5.15 or less in 2002 than did the U.S. as a whole.
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