Study: Florida Workers Earning Less Per Hour Than in 2000

The results of a new study have revealed Florida’s workforce is earning less per hour than they did in 2000.

The study, done by the Research Institute on Social and Economic Policy (RISEP) at Florida International University and detailed online by the Miami Herald, shows workers’ median hourly wage has dipped 4.3 percent since the turn of the century. The RISEP attributes this drop to the fact that while workers’ wages are rising, the prices companies charge consumers are increasing even faster, too fast for businesses to keep up.

The RISEP study showed that between 2000 and 2011 —a time period that saw the birth and peak of the “Great Recession” — Florida’s median hourly wage, when adjusted to “2010 dollars,” fell from roughly $14.50 to less than $14 per hour. Shockingly, the study also found that Florida’s African American workers were three times more likely to earn less than their white counterparts. Hispanic workers, according to the study, were twice as likely to earn less than white employees.

The RISEP initially released its findings in its annual “State of Working Florida” report, the release of which, according to the Herald, is timed every year to coincide with Labor Day weekend.