The real value of a $15 minimum wage depends on where you live
Although most Americans back a higher minimum wage, wide disparities in local living costs make finding an appropriate rate difficult.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Drew DeSilver
Senior Writer/Editor
Drew DeSilver is a senior writer at Pew Research Center.
Publications
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Turnout in this year’s U.S. House primaries rose sharply, especially on the Democratic side
Turnout in this year’s primaries for Congress and most state governorships surged compared with the last midterms in 2014, particularly among Democrats. Nearly a fifth (19.6%) of registered voters – about 37 million – cast ballots in primary elections for the U.S. House of Representatives – a 56% increase over the 23.7 million who voted in 2014’s House primaries. Turnout that year was 13.7% of registered voters.
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Few women lead large U.S. companies, despite modest gains over past decade
While women are still underrepresented in top corporate jobs, there has been a small increase in the share of women executives in such positions over the past decade.
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Most Americans view unions favorably, though few workers belong to one
Most Americans like labor unions, at least in the abstract. A majority (55%) holds a favorable view of unions, versus 33% who hold an unfavorable view, according to a Pew Research Center survey from earlier this year. Despite those fairly benign views, unionization rates in the United States have dwindled in recent decades. As of 2017, just 10.7% of all wage and salary workers were union members, matching the record low set in 2016, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Immigrants or children of immigrants make up at least 12% of 115th Congress
At least 65 of the current voting members of Congress are immigrants or the children of immigrants. These members represent nearly half of U.S. states.
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For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades
Despite some ups and downs over the past several decades, today’s real average wage in the U.S. has about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago. And most of what wage gains there have been have flowed to the highest-paid tier of workers.
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Senate’s August recess could be its shortest in decades
Mitch McConnell’s decision to shorten the chamber’s August recess isn’t unprecedented. But in an election year – when a third of senators are on the campaign trail – it’s unusual.
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Q&A: Telling the difference between factual and opinion statements in the news
Read a Q&A with Amy Mitchell, director of journalism research at Pew Research Center, on a new report that explores Americans’ ability to distinguish factual news statements from opinions.
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U.S. population keeps growing, but House of Representatives is same size as in Taft era
The U.S. House of Representatives has one voting member (435 in total) for every 747,000 or so Americans. That’s by far the highest ratio of population to representatives of any industrialized democracy, and the highest it’s ever been in U.S. history.
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Women scarce at top of U.S. business – and in the jobs that lead there
Only about 5% of the chief executive officers of 1,500 companies we examined were women. Among the tier of executives just below the CEO in terms of pay and position in the corporate hierarchy, 11.5% were women.
