Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we found the job in each state with the lowest average annual salary.
- Food service jobs were the lowest-paying job in 32 states.
One of the most successful movements to fight income inequality in the US in recent years has been the “Fight for 15” push to increase the minimum wage, and fast-food workers have been at the forefront of that fight.
According to a Business Insider analysis looking for the lowest-paying job in each state, there’s good reason for that: Food-service workers of various types had the lowest average annual wages in 32 states.
Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics program, we found the job in each state with the lowest average annual salary among the several hundred detailed occupational groups tracked by the BLS as of May 2017, the latest available data. For our calculations, we considered jobs employing at least 1,000 people in the state for which the BLS reported annual mean salaries.
In many states, jobs in food preparation or serving (illustrated in light blue in the map above) were the lowest-paying occupation. Fast-food cooks had the lowest average annual wage in five states, and combined food prep and serving workers — a category that also includes many fast-food workers — had the lowest average wage in six states.
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Because many occupations were the lowest-paying in multiple states, we’ve arranged the following list in alphabetical order of the 18 jobs that appear on the above map. The list also includes the states for which that job is the lowest-paying, along with the job’s average annual salary in those states:
Bartenders
Andrew Toth/Getty
North Dakota: $20,140
Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Alabama: $18,380
Hawaii: $23,730
Maine: $20,930
South Carolina: $18,320
Utah: $20,000
Wyoming: $20,860
Fast food cooks
Hannelore Foerster / Stringer / Getty Images
Arkansas: $19,420
Idaho: $18,280
Mississippi: $18,160
North Carolina: $18,620
Virginia: $19,430
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – akiersz@businessinsider.com (Andy Kiersz)