Living on $2.13 an Hour, and Hoping Someone Leaves a Good Tip

Since 1996, the federal tipped-minimum wage for food workers like Jones has been $2.13. So far, only seven states have passed legislation eliminating this kind of sub-wage, requiring all workers to be paid a statewide minimum wage. Some states have taken steps to increase the tipped wage slightly. For example, New York restaurant workers are now paid $5 an hour. Yet many states still pay their food industry workers less than $3 an hour.

There is another minimum wage battle being fought, and it’s among service workers who are earning a tipped-minimum wage of $2.13 an hour hoping that customers will make up the difference with the gratuity they leave on the table. They’d like the sub-wage to be eliminated.

Saru Jayaraman, co-director of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, says that many service workers are literally living off of tips: “When you earn a wage of $2 or $5, you don’t actually earn a wage at all. Your wage is so low it goes entirely to taxes and you get a pay stub that says ‘This is not a paycheck’. It says ‘$0’. And you live off of your tips.”

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