Minimum Wage Violations in the Pittsburgh Metro Area

Using Current Population Survey (CPS) Outgoing Rotation Group data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau, WJL@RU finds that an estimated 55,000 workers in the Pittsburgh metropolitan statistical area (MSA) 1 were paid below the minimum wage between 2018 and 2022, an average of roughly 11,000 workers a year. These workers on average were underpaid over $3,700 a year in earned wages. In total, WJL@RU estimates that workers lost nearly $208 million between 2018 and 2022, or $41.6 million per year on average, to minimum wage violations. Further analysis of CPS data from 2003-2022 2 reveals that, in the Pittsburgh MSA:

1. Workers are particularly likely to experience minimum wage violations in a) the food services and drinking places and b) the personal and laundry services 3 industries;
2. Workers without a high school diploma are over three times as likely as workers with a high school education to be paid below the minimum wage;
3. Female workers are twice as likely as male workers to be paid below the minimum wage; • Black workers are 60-70 percent more likely than white workers to be paid below the minimum;
4. Non-citizens are 30-40 percent more likely than citizens to experience a minimum wage violation; and
5. Younger and older workers are particularly likely to be paid below the minimum wage.