Incarceration rates: it's a hockey stick! Incarcerated people are all unemployed, and most of them, if in the job pool, are likely to be in the minimum wage or similar bracket.
The equivalent of a $3.80 minimum wage in 1980 is also nearly $9 today with inflation, so the group of true "minimum wage" workers is much larger for yet another reason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_incarceration_timeline-...
Incarceration rates: it's a hockey stick! Incarcerated people are all unemployed, and most of them, if in the job pool, are likely to be in the minimum wage or similar bracket.
The equivalent of a $3.80 minimum wage in 1980 is also nearly $9 today with inflation, so the group of true "minimum wage" workers is much larger for yet another reason.