In Nebraska there are nearly 27,000 tipped workers, and 72% of these work in the restaurant industry. The restaurant industry employs nearly 10% of the workforce and is one of the fastest growing sectors of the US economy. Unfortunately, the restaurant industry offers several of Nebraska’s lowest paid jobs. Five of the ten lowest paid occupations are in the restaurant industry, and one of these is a tipped occupation.
www.rocunited.org TIPPED WORKERS WHO WORK IN RESTAURANTS
72% LOWEST PAID TIPPED OCCUPA OCCUPATION TION
SERVERS
Nebraska follows federal minimum wage TIPPED guidelines. The federal minimum wage is $7.25, MINIMUM WAGE but the tipped minimum wage is even lower. It has stood at $2.13 for the last 23 years. In 1991 it was pegged at 50% of the federal minimum wage. In 1996 it was officially depegged from MINIMUM WAGE the minimum wage and has remained frozen ever since. Including tips, tipped workers in Nebraska earn a median wage of only $8.00 — equivalent to $16,640 for a full-time year-round employee. However, tipped workers MEDIAN WAGE FOR TIPPED WORKERS generally are allowed part-time schedules that INCLUDING TIPS vary by season. Seven states have eliminated eli minated the tipped minimum wage — in those states tipped workers receive the full minimum wage.
$2.13 $7.25 $8.00
TIPPED WORKERS AND THE RISING AMERICAN ELECTORATE The Rising American Electorate refers to the demographic groups that are growing the most rapidly, rapidly, historically with lower lower voter participation rates, but whose growing civic engagement has been crucial in tipping the scales in recent elections. Tipped workers are primarily women, 35% are moms, and although many are married, more than half of these are single moms. Although the median age for tipped workers is 26, half of them are younger. younger. And they are racially diverse, overrepresented by Latinos, Asians, and African Americans compared to the broader workforce. They are also a highly educated group. Tipped workers are a snapshot of the RAE.
GENDER 81%
% 9 1
TIPPED WORKERS AND THE RISING AMERICAN ELECTORATE ELECTORATE
MARITAL &
AGE 26
STATUS
< _ 24 46%
EDUCATION
48% HIGHER EDUCATION
White 74% Latino 17%
MEDIAN AGE
PARENTAL Married 30% Parents 31% Dads 13% Moms 35% Single Moms 19%
RACE
25-34 22% 35-44 15% 45+ 17%
54
Asian 3% Black 3% Other 3%
% of tipped
worker moms are single moms E R TY R A T V O E
Y T TIPPED RESTAURANT WORKERS
P
25
%
T
S
I
R E V O P
live in POVERTY at 4x the rate of the Nebraska workforce.
E E D R K W O R
P P
E R TY R A T V O E
P
T
I
P P
E
28
%
R
D
S
R
E
K
R
O
E S W T A U R A N T
PARENTS WITH CHILDREN
ON FREE LUNCHES In states with a tipped minimum wage of $2.13,
25% WORKERS ON FOOD STAMPS
20% 3X REST OF NE WORKFORCE
the poverty rates for workers of color is nearly double that of the seven states without without a tipped minimum wage, with one in four living in poverty.
WHITE
PEOPLE OF COLOR
ALL
POVERTY RATES IN $2.13 STATES
16%
25%
20%
POVERTY RATES IN STATES STATES WITH NO TIP CREDIT
13%
14%
14%
The industry projects employment will continue contin ue to grow at the rate of 6% over the next decade.
Y H R T T S W U O D R H N I G
INDUSTRY PROJECTED SALES 2014 ➤ 2 2.5 .5 BILLION
RAISE THE MINIMUM WAGE WAGE Living off tips is precarious, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Raising the minimum wage and eliminating the tipped credit would provide a significant stimulus to the U.S. economy in tipped wages alone, providing a boost to local economies and the broader food industry, as well.
MINIMIM
TIPPED
STIMULUS $12.7 N O I $12.00 $19.4 L L I $15.00 $30.1 B
WAGE $10.10
FOR MORE INFO rocunited.org/stateofti rocunited.org/stateoftippedworkers/ ppedworkers/