Almost Half Americans in Low-Wage Jobs Earning $18,000

"According to the Brookings analysis, approximately 53 million working Americans between the ages of 18 and 64 can be qualified as “low-wage” earners. They account for 44% of all workers. Their median hourly earning are $10.22. And, their median annual earnings fall at about $18,000.

This group is too large to be explained away by the fact that a percentage of workers are just starting their careers. Recent or current students don’t add up to 44% of the population. These aren’t just people who are working for extra spending money. Low-wage workers are primarily adults who work to support themselves and their families."
https://www.payscale.com/career-news/2020/01/nearly-half-of-us-workers-have-low-paying-jobs

"The low-quality jobs offer an average of 24.6 hours of work per week at $14.65 an hour, which is $360 per week. These roles are also the 13.5 million retail jobs offering 30.3 hours a week at $16.73 an hour, which is $506 in weekly pay. About 83% of all private sector jobs—105 million workers—are in nonsupervisory jobs. More than half of those positions—58 million—pay less than the average weekly U.S. wage of $793. A good deal of these jobs don’t afford proper healthcare or benefits. Unfortunately, for many Americans, these are the best jobs they could get.

As long as the government only reports the quantity of jobs (as opposed to the quality), it sends a false picture to the public about the real state of the overall job market."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2019/11/25/the-frightening-rise-in-low-quality-low-paying-jobs-is-this-really-a-strong-job-market/#7cd7148a4fd1