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This Is How Many Workers In Your State Will Soon Be Getting Overtime Pay

CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK
CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK

The share of workers who receive overtime pay has seen big drops over the years. Currently, only workers making below $23,660 per year are eligible for overtime pay. According to the Economic Policy Institute, that is below the poverty threshold for a family of four. This threshold has not been updated since 1975, meaning 4 decades of inflation have caused the share of workers eligible for overtime to gradually decrease. Workers who previously would have received compensation for their extra work are now being shortchanged.

Last month, however, those workers caught a big break. The Department of Labor proposed major changes to rule covering who is eligible for overtime protections. The new rules would raise that threshold to $50,440 by 2016. Anyone making that much or less would receive overtime pay for putting more than 40 hours of work per week. Nearly five million workers would be eligible for overtime protections as a result. Labor Secretary Tom Perez also estimated worker compensation would be boosted by at least $1.2 billion.

These benefits will be widespread across all states. A new interactive map from EPI shows the percentage of salaried workers who would gain overtime pay in every state. In nearly all states, the amount of people eligible for protections would increase substantially.

ot-2015 | Economic Snapshot | How Many Salaried Workers in Your State Would Gain Overtime…State Currently covered Covered by proposed threshold Alabama 11.6% 41.5% Alaska 6.9% 26.5% Arizona 10.0% 33.3…www.epi.orgAs EPI notes, nine states would see the share of workers receiving overtime pay increase by at least 30 percent, while an additional 37 states would see increases of at least 20 percent. In the largest example, Arkansas would see an increase of 35.5 percent.

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These new overtime rules reflect the fact that Americans are putting in more and more hours of work. By expanding overtime protections, that work will at least come with adequate compensation for more workers.

Check out this short video to learn more about the new rules.