Who are these workers who earn the minimum wage? According to the official Bureau of Labor Statistics, 3.3 million people earn at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25. Among the 3.3, they are divided into two main categories. The first category is that of those who receive exactly the federal minimum wage, or 1.5 million workers. The second category is those who earn less than the federal minimum wage, or 1.8 million workers. The second category includes tipped workers, full-time students, and workers with disabilities. The majority of them are tipped workers and regardless of the amount of tips they receive, they will earn at least the federal minimum wage. About 50 percent of minimum wage earners are under 25; Of which 20 percent are adolescents aged 16 to 19. Of the 3.3 million workers earning at or below the federal minimum wage, 1.5 million of them are employed in the food and service industry. The remaining 1.8 million are employed in sectors such as sales, services, transport, construction, offices and more. These 3.3 million workers earning at or below the minimum wage represent 4.3% of the total 75.9 million U.S. hourly workers. Those earning at least the federal minimum wage, in terms of education among total hourly paid workers: 10 percent earned less than a high school diploma, 4 percent earned a B.A. high school and 2 percent earned a college degree. In terms of ethnicity: 5% are black, 4% are white and/or Hispanic, and 3% are Asian. The majority of those earning the federal minimum wage reside in Idaho and Tennessee (BLS 1). A fairly common misconception is that workers who earn at or below the federal minimum wage are correlated with those who would be affected. ......ewresearch.org. Pew Research Center, December 4, 2013. Web. May 9, 2014.DOL. “History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938-2009.” Dol.gov. United States Department of Labor, nd Web. May 11, 2014. Jamieson, Dave and Saki Knafo. “Low wages at a Walmart could cost taxpayers $900,000 a year, House Dems say.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, May 31, 2013. Web. May 11, 2014. Reich, Michael, Ken Jacobs and Annette Bernhardt. Berkely.edu. Institute for Research on Labor and Employment [IRLE], March 2014. Web. May 1, 2014. Shierholz, Heidi. “The lagging minimum wage is one reason most Americans' wages lag behind productivity.” EPI.org. Economic Policy Institute, July 11, 2013. Web. May 28, 2014. White, Matha. "Fast food workers cost US$7 billion a year in public assistance | TIME.com." Time.com. TIME, and Web. May 1 2014.