Overview

A recent Metropolitan Council report found that around 40 percent of people in St. Paul live in poverty, many of them
working for low wages. Following Mayor Melvin Carter’s election victory with a commitment to raise the minimum wage
to $15 or more, Working America, together with 15 Now, CTUL, AAOP, UFCW 1189 and ROC, conducted a survey of 743
workers in St. Paul to better understand minimum-wage workers and their circumstances and challenges. We spoke with
hundreds of people while they were at work, focusing on retail, restaurant and fast-food workers.

Summary of our findings

· Low pay is widespread among retail and food-service workers. At least 20 percent of people we interviewed in
these industries reported making minimum wage or less. At least 45 percent made $10 per hour or less; 90 percent
made less than $15 an hour.
· Low-paid workers shoulder great responsibility at home. Half of all workers we interviewed use their income to
support their loved ones.
· Low pay affects workers of all ages. We found older workers in the group were just as likely to make minimum
wage as their younger co-workers.
· Working people need a raise to cover basic needs. We asked workers what they would do with the extra money a
raise would provide. The most popular responses included covering essentials, such as paying bills, looking after a family,
worrying less or fixing a car.
Overview by industry
By industry, tipped restaurant workers make the lowest wages. Fast-food and bakery/coffee shop workers follow a
similar trend. Around half of these workers make $10-$12 an hour, with far fewer making above $12. Back-of-house
restaurant workers surveyed all make more than minimum wage. Roughly half make between minimum wage and $12
an hour, and the other half are paid more than $14.

Wage Category by Industry

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
< minimum Minimum >Minimum up >$10 up to $12 >$12 <$14 $14-<$15 $15+
to $10

Bakery/Coffee Shop Fast Food Restaurant - back of house

Restaurant - tipped Retail Average

Low pay is widespread in St. Paul

The median hourly wage among the workers we interviewed was $11 per hour.

At least 13% of workers reported being paid less than the minimum wage large employers must pay — $9.65. Some of
these workers were employed at small companies, which have a lower statewide minimum wage of just $7.87. However,
a significant number of people who reported making less than $9.65 reported working for large employers. It is unclear
from the data whether they are being unlawfully underpaid or whether this was due to another reason, such as workers
not being aware of the recent minimum wage increase.
All Workers Large Employers Small Employers
< Minimum 51 13% 26 9% 21 20%
Minimum 31 8% 17 6% 13 12%
>Minimum to 10 67 17% 49 18% 17 16%
>$10 to $12 139 35% 107 38% 25 23%
>$12 to <$14 47 12% 32 12% 12 11%
$14 to <$15 24 6% 12 4% 12 11%
$15+ 42 10% 35 13% 7 7%
Grand Total 401 100% 278 100% 107 100%

When comparing small businesses to large businesses, small businesses are:

• More likely to pay minimum or less
 • Less likely to pay between minimum and
$12 Retail Wages - Big vs Small Businesses
• Equally likely to pay between $12 and 40%
$14 30%

• Three times as likely to pay between $14 20%

10%
and $15
0%
• Half as likely to pay more than $15 < Minimumminimum >$10 to >$12 $14-<$15 $15+
minimum to $10 $12 <$14

Managers versus Nonmanagers big small Average

Up to 19% of workers surveyed identified in their job title that they have some managerial or supervisory duties. Of that
19%, only 29% are making $15 an hour or more, and are equally likely to make more than $10 but less than $12/hour.
Additionally, 5% of people identifying as management are making minimum wage or less, despite having an elevated
title.

Low-wage workers support loved ones with their income

Half of all the workers we spoke to said others relied on their
income.
“I would save up for
Who Income Supports by Worker Age
college while feeding
Didn't specify age

51+
my siblings”
A 17 year old Asian woman, who works 46
41-50 hours a week at $10 an hour on what she
would do with a raise.
31-40

26-30
Workers 31-40 bore this responsibility in greater
21-25
numbers — 65 percent of this group supported one
<21 other person or more with their income. We also
found that workers under 21 support others on their
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 income at a rate only a slightly lower than average —
"Family" Spouse/Partner/SO 40%. This shows that many young workers have
Children Parents/Partner's Parents families or loved ones who rely on them.
Siblings Other
Did not specify who The chart, “Who Income Supports by Worker Age,”
shows who depends on the worker’s income. Where
a person is listed in more than one category — for example, spouse and children — both are displayed on this chart.

This chart shows how young people use their income to support a diverse group of people, with an especially large
number of them providing income for parents.
 Supporting Others on Income Who do you support with your
70% income?
60%
140
50% 120
40% 100
30% 80
20% 60
10% 40
0% 20
0

Youth workers and years of experience

Wages by Age & Years of Experience

Looking at wages by age, youth workers: “If I got a raise, I could
• Are almost as likely as workers over 40 to make
less than the state minimum wage for large afford to do more activities
businesses
• Close to average on being paid minimum wage with my kids”
• Are over twice as likely to be making more than A 32-year old African-American man whose children
minimum, up to $10/hour rely on him and is currently staying with his mother

Looking at the chart, “Wages by Worker Age,” if

people’s wages increased by age, we would expect to see a line sloping up from left to right. Instead, the data points are
clustered, showing that people’s wages in these industries do not increase with age.

Wages by Worker Age

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
$- $5 $10 $15 $20 $25 $30 $35
WAGE
Comparing wages by age to wages by years of experience, we see similar trends, with years of experience being more
likely than age to influence whether someone makes $15 or more. Up to 16% of workers with 30 or more years of
experience are still making minimum wage or less.

The Years Worked graph shows that years of experience do not appear to correlate with an increase in wages.

Years worked
60

50
YEARS WORKED

40

30

20

10

0
$- $5 $10 $15 $20 $25 $30 $35
CURRENT WAGE

Low-wage workers need a raise to cover basic needs

The largest group of respondents said they would pay off debt or pay more bills on time if they were paid $15 an hour.
The next-most popular category of how to use extra money in paychecks was moving to better housing. Some examples
workers gave include moving out of their parents’ house,
buying a home and having fewer roommates. The third-most
popular response was live more comfortably, worry less and be
“I would like to afford less stressed. The fourth category of workers wanted to buy a
car, put gas in their car, fix their car or be able to afford car
rent and have insurance. In the fifth category, workers simply said they
wanted to be able to save money. The sixth category was about
food. Responses ranged from “eat consistently” and “eat every
enough left for food.” day” to “eat healthier food.”
A 29 year old white man who works 58 hours a
week
 What could you do on $15?
Pay debt/bills on time
Better Housing
Live more comfortably/Worry less
Buy/Fix car
Care for family
Save
Improve eating situation
Education/Pursue Better Career
Vacation/Visit Family
Spend more money in community
Health Insurance/Medical Costs
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

< Minimum Minimum Minimum to 10 >$10 to $12

>$12 <$14 $14-<$15 $15+

Little evidence of a negative impact on public assistance from

raising wages

One concern that has been brought up is that raising the minimum wage could create a so-called “benefit cliff,” where
workers would lose money in the form of social welfare benefits.

But only 15 percent of the people we surveyed receive public assistance and there was little variation among the wage
groups. This indicates either that most lower-wage workers are not taking the assistance they are owed, aren’t eligible
or raising wages wouldn’t cause people to lose benefits.

Relying on Public Assistance by Wage Category

25%
21%
20%
17% 17%
15% 15%
15% 14%

10% 10%
10%

5%

0%
< Minimum Minimum Minimum - >$10 - $12 >$12 - <$14 $14 - <$15 $15+ Average
10
Hours Worked
• 66% of respondents work between 30 and 80 hours at their job.
• 12% of workers surveyed work fewer than 20 hours a week at this job.
• The remaining 21% work more than 20 but less than 30 hours.
• The average was 32 hours.
• Up to 26% of workers said they work more than one job.
• Workers with two or more jobs averaged over 25 hours at their other jobs.

Average Hours per Week by Age

70
60
50
40
Age

30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Average Hours At This Job

Sexual Harassment
Because of the way the question about sexual harassment was posed, leaving the question blank was equivalent to
saying “No.” It is impossible to know what percentage of people who left the question blank meant “No” and what
percent skipped the question. What we do know is that 25% of workers who answered at least one survey question
reported they had been victims of sexual harassment. No back-of-house restaurant workers reported harassment; 23%
of fast-food and retail workers reported harassment; 35% of bakery or coffee shop workers reported harassment; and
47% of tipped restaurant workers reported harassment.

Of people who reported sexual harassment, 90% reported harassment from customers, 29% from co-workers, 15% from
management or owners, and 2% said they were harassed but they didn’t say by whom.
 Source of Harassment
100%
90%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
29%
30%
20% 15%
10% 2%
0%
Co-workers Customers Owners/Managers Unknown

Sexual Harassment Reporting

Average

Retail

Restaurant - tipped

Restaurant - back of house

Fast Food

Bakery/Coffee Shop

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

Said they'd been harassed, but not by whom

By Owners or Managers
By Co-Workers
By Customers
Total pecent reporting some form of sexual harassment

Travel to Work
Up to 59% of workers drive a car to work; 3% report getting a ride to work and 1% use ride service apps. At least 26%
use public transit, 9% walk and 1% bike to work.

When you compare the “Commute Time” chart to the “Travel Time & Mode of Commute” chart, it is clear that driving is
spread out over all the commute time categories, and public transit accounts for most of the longer commutes.
 MODE OF COMMUTE
70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Bike Drive Public Ride Uber/Lyft Walk
Transit

Very Few People Own A Home

The open-ended, “What Is Your Housing Situation?” question led to a variety of responses. The most common response
was that people rent (39%). Up to 18% of respondents were more specific in that they live with their parents or family,
with an additional 16% saying simply they share their home or apartment. Up to 10% identified as owning a home, 8%
said they are struggling and 6% said they had a stable living situation. The final 3% were more specific, saying they lived
in a dorm, senior housing, low-income housing or a sober house.

Comparing housing situation by wage, it is clear that people making $10 an hour or less are most likely to struggle or live
with parents and family, and among workers who earned $15 an hour, most said they own a home. It is also clear that
people making $14 or more an hour are less likely to still live at home with their parents or family.

Housing Situation Housing Situation by Wage

180 Sober/Dorm/Low…
160
140 Stable
120
Struggling
100
80 Own
60
Shared home/apartment
40
20 With Parents/Family
0
Rent

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%100%120%

< minimum Minimum minimum to 10

>10 to 12 >12 <14 14-<15
15+
Information about the respondents

Where Workers Live Breakdown by Age

30% 30%

25% 25%

20% 20%

15% 15%

10% 10%

5% 5%

0% 0%
<21 21-25 26-30 31-40 41-50 51+

Breakout By Wage Category

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
< Minimum Minimum Minimum - 10 >$10 - $12 >$12 - <$14 $14 - <$15 $15+
 Industry of Surveyed Workers
60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Bakery/ Fast Food Other/ Restaurant - Restaurant - Retail
Coffee Shop Unknown BOH tipped

Breakdown by Race/Ethnicity
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Asian Black/ Latinx Middle Mixed POC Native White
African Eastern

Breakdown by Gender

Female Male Non-binary

Methodology
We spoke to 743 workers while they were working over five days from Feb. 28 to March 4, 2018. We focused on retail,
restaurant and fast-food workers. Up to 539 of these workers took the time to complete a $15 support card with contact
info, with 482 completing a 12-question survey.

73% of the workers surveyed identified as living in St. Paul.

The largest percentage of workers surveyed not living in St. Paul live in Minneapolis (8%).

The majority of workers surveyed identified as people of color. They were:

• 42% white
• 22% Black/African-American
• 13% Latinx
• 13% Asian
• 8% identifying as mixed POC

• 54% female
• 44% male
• 2% non-binary

• 24% under 21
• 26% — 21-25
• 16% — 26-30
• 19% — 31-40
• 14% — 41-plus

Of the workers we surveyed, the fields they worked in were:

• 18% — fast food
• 25% — restaurant
• 49% — retail
• 9% — other low-wage job