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
Although most Americans back a higher minimum wage, wide disparities in local living costs make finding an appropriate rate difficult.
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.
Women account for 28% of the 67 judges Trump has appointed to the federal courts since taking office, well below the share appointed by Barack Obama but higher than the share appointed by any other Republican president. Seven of the 67 judges (10%) are racial or ethnic minorities.
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.
There were a record 43.7 million immigrants living in the U.S. in 2016, making up 13.5% of the nation’s population.
Sweden’s general election extended two trends now prominent across Western Europe: The rise of right-wing populist parties and the decline of center-left parties.
A projected 50.7 million pre-K-12 students will return to the classroom in U.S. public schools this fall. As the school year gets underway, read key findings about America’s students and their experiences.
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.
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.
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.