Raising the Federal Minimum Wage

Unpublished weighted analyses of the 2017 Gallup Daily Tracking Survey data conducted by The Williams Institute indicate that the percentage of employed workers (excluding those who are exclusively self-employed) ages 18 and up that identify as LGBT is 5.37%. This percentage was applied (multiplied) to the estimated 27 million workers who would benefit from raising the minimum wage to $15 in an average week in 2025, as reported by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). See: The Effects on Employment and Family Income of Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage. Congressional Budget Office. July 2019. Available at: https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-07/CBO-55410-MinimumWage2019.pdf. Accessed July 16, 2019.

In the aforementioned report (https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2019-07/CBO-55410-MinimumWage2019.pdf), the CBO estimated that, in an average week in 2025, the $15 per hour option would boost the wages of 17 million workers nationwide who would otherwise earn less than $15 per hour. Another 10 million workers otherwise earning slightly more than $15 per hour might see their wages rise as well. Applying % LGBT workers from the 2017 Gallup to the CBO’s estimates of 17 and 10 million workers, respectively, and rounding to the nearest 1,000, we arrive at estimates of 913,000 and 537,000 LGBT adult workers.

See Cooper, D. Raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would lift wages for 41 million American workers. Economic Policy Institute. April 16, 2017. Available at: https://www.epi.org/files/pdf/125047.pdf/ Accessed July 16, 2017.

See Badgett, MVL & Schneebaum A. The Impact of a $15 Minimum Wage on Poverty Among Same-Sex Couples. The Williams Institute. September 2016. Available at https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/Poverty-and-the-15-Minimum-Wage-1.pdf. Accessed July 16, 2017.

See Badgett, M.V.L., Durso, L. E., & A., S. (2013). New Patterns of Poverty in the Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Community. Retrieved from CA: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/LGB-Poverty-Update-Jun-2013.pdf; Badgett, M. V. L. (2018). Left Out? Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Poverty in the U.S. Population Research and Policy Review, 37(5), 667–702.; Conron, K. J., Mimiaga, M. J., & Landers, S. J. (2010). A population-based study of sexual orientation identity and gender differences in adult health. Am J Public Health, 100(10), 1953-1960.; Crissman, H. P., Berger, M. B., Graham, L. F., & Dalton, V. K. (2017). Transgender Demographics: A Household Probability Sample of US Adults, 2014. Am J Public Health, 107(2), 213-215.; Dilley, J. A., Simmons, K. W., Boysun, M. J., Pizacani, B. A., & Stark, M. J. (2010). Demonstrating the importance and feasibility of including sexual orientation in public health surveys: health disparities in the Pacific Northwest. Am J Public Health, 100(3), 460-467.; Goldberg, S. K., & Conron, K. J. (2018). Demographic characteristics of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults in the United States: Evidence from the 2015-2017 Gallup Daily Tracking survey. In W. Swan (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of L.G.B.T.Q. Administration and Policy (pp. pp. 17-50). New York: Routledge.