These tables give a detailed breakdown of EPI’s estimate that 13.5 million salaried workers would directly benefit from the Department of Labor’s proposal to raise the salary threshold below which salaried workers are automatically eligible for overtime pay. According to our assessment, most of these 13.5 million workers will be newly eligible for overtime protections: they are currently ineligible for overtime pay because they are classified, or wrongly classified, as having job duties that preclude receiving overtime. The rest would have their rights strengthened (they are currently at risk of being classified or misclassified as ineligible for overtime). There is inherent uncertainty in these estimates because no data are available documenting who is currently eligible for or receiving overtime.
In other words, workers making at or above the current threshold can be excluded from overtime protection if their jobs are determined to be executive, administrative, or professional (EAP) jobs. The proposal would raise the threshold from $455 per week to $933 per week (in 2014 dollars). There are 13.5 million salaried workers making at least $455 but less than $933 per week, and under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), those workers can be excluded from automatic overtime protection if they are classified, or incorrectly classified, as EAP employees.
FLSA overtime rules were established to make sure that all but higher-level workers with control over their time or tasks aren’t working overtime but not getting paid for it. Unfortunately, rule changes in 2004 regarding the “duties tests” used to determine who does relatively high-level work made it a lot easier to deprive many lower-level workers of overtime protection by tweaking their job descriptions. Employer willingness to push the limits of the law have resulted in widespread noncompliance and misclassification. Raising the threshold would return overtime protection to the employees who need it by preempting these malleable duties tests for the workers under the new threshold.
These tables describe the demographic, geographic, industry, and occupational composition of the workers who would directly benefit from the proposed higher salary threshold. A new EPI issue brief, The New Overtime Salary Threshold Would Directly Benefit 13.5 Million Workers: How EPI’s Estimates Differ from the Department of Labor’s, explains why our estimate of the overtime rule’s impact exceeds that of the Department of Labor (DOL): the DOL wrongly assumes that there has been no deterioration of overtime eligibility since the late 1990s despite court cases, changes in the overtime rule in 2004, and aggressive employer behavior that we believe have severely reduced overtime eligibility. An EPI technnical paper, Estimating the Number of Workers Directly Benefiting from the Proposed Increase in the Overtime Salary Threshold, provides the detailed computational methodology for estimating the number of workers affected by raising the overtime threshold.
As the tables show, raising the overtime salary threshold would directly benefit a broad range of workers, including:
- 6.9 million women, or 51.3 percent of all directly benefiting workers
- 4.6 million parents and 9.2 million children (under age 18)
- 1.6 million blacks (who make up 8.8 percent of the salaried workforce but 11.5 percent of directly benefiting workers), and 2.1 million Hispanics (who make up 11.6 percent of the salaried workforce but 15.5 percent of directly benefiting workers)
- 3.8 million workers age 25 to 34 (who make up 22.8 percent of the salaried workforce but 28.2 percent of directly benefiting workers)
- 3.4 million workers with a high school degree but not more education (who make up 16.1 percent of the salaried workforce but 25.6 percent of directly benefiting workers)
Raising the threshold would affect workers in all states, with the biggest effects—in terms of states with the greatest share of salaried workers in that state who would directly benefit from raising the threshold—in Arkansas (35.5 percent), Hawaii (33.9 percent), North Carolina (32.1 percent), Oklahoma (31.9 percent), Louisiana (31.7 percent), Florida (31.4 percent), Nevada (31.0 percent), Tennessee (30.2 percent), and Alabama (30.0 percent).
Of the major industries, the new threshold would have the biggest impacts—in terms of the greatest share of salaried workers in the industry who would directly benefit from an increase in the overtime threshold—in leisure and hospitality (38.7 percent); other services (36.4 percent); construction (35.1 percent); agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (34.9 percent); and public administration (34.7 percent).
Occupations with the greatest share of salaried workers in the occupation who would directly benefit would be office and administrative support occupations (48.9 percent); transportation and material moving occupations (44.3 percent); construction and extraction occupations (43.3 percent); installation, maintenance, and repair occupations (41.4 percent); and production occupations (38.6 percent).
—Text of the NPRM can be found in U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, 29 CFR Part 541, “Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales and Computer Employees.”
—The authors would like to thank EPI research assistant Will Kimball for preparing these tables and figures.
Number of fathers, mothers, and their children covered under current and proposed overtime salary thresholds, 2014
| Covered under $455 per week | Covered under $933 per week | |
|---|---|---|
| Mothers | 1,017,000 | 3,419,000 |
| Fathers | 666,000 | 2,885,000 |
| Children (under 18) | 3,600,000 | 12,780,000 |
Note: The sample reflects salaried (nonhourly) workers who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This excludes certain groups of workers such as the self-employed, most federal workers, religious workers, many agricultural workers, and many transportation workers.
Source: Economic Policy Institute analysis of Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata
Salaried workers directly benefiting from the proposed increase in the overtime salary threshold, by demographic, 2014
| Group | Total salaried workers* | Directly benefiting salaried workers** | Share of group’s salaried workers that are directly benefiting | Group’s share of directly benefiting workers | Group’s share of total salaried workforce |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (A) | (B) | (C)=(B/A) | (D)=(Bx/B1) | (E)=(Ax/A1) | |
| All (1) | 52,522,000 | 13,463,000 | 25.6% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 27,590,000 | 6,556,000 | 23.8% | 48.7% | 52.5% |
| Female | 24,933,000 | 6,908,000 | 27.7% | 51.3% | 47.5% |
| Race/ethnicity*** | |||||
| White | 37,096,000 | 8,740,000 | 23.6% | 64.9% | 70.6% |
| Black | 4,622,000 | 1,555,000 | 33.6% | 11.5% | 8.8% |
| Hispanic | 6,077,000 | 2,091,000 | 34.4% | 15.5% | 11.6% |
| Other | 4,727,000 | 1,077,000 | 22.8% | 8.0% | 9.0% |
| Age group | |||||
| 16–24 | 2,746,000 | 941,000 | 34.3% | 7.0% | 5.2% |
| 25–34 | 11,961,000 | 3,803,000 | 31.8% | 28.2% | 22.8% |
| 35–44 | 13,026,000 | 3,062,000 | 23.5% | 22.7% | 24.8% |
| 45–54 | 12,884,000 | 3,053,000 | 23.7% | 22.7% | 24.5% |
| 55–64 | 9,377,000 | 2,132,000 | 22.7% | 15.8% | 17.9% |
| 65+ | 2,528,000 | 473,000 | 18.7% | 3.5% | 4.8% |
| Educational attainment | |||||
| Less than high school | 1,863,000 | 720,000 | 38.6% | 5.3% | 3.5% |
| High school | 8,469,000 | 3,440,000 | 40.6% | 25.6% | 16.1% |
| Some college | 11,558,000 | 4,178,000 | 36.1% | 31.0% | 22.0% |
| College degree | 18,156,000 | 3,932,000 | 21.7% | 29.2% | 34.6% |
| Advanced degree | 12,476,000 | 1,194,000 | 9.6% | 8.9% | 23.8% |
* The sample reflects salaried (nonhourly) workers who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This excludes certain groups of workers such as the self-employed, most federal workers, religious workers, many agricultural workers, and many transportation workers.
**Directly benefiting salaried workers are those who would newly be guaranteed overtime protection by virtue of their salary alone under the proposed higher overtime threshold, i.e., they make at least $455 a week (the current threshold) but less than $933 a week (the new threshold in 2014 dollars). This includes workers who are newly eligible (they are currently excluded from automatic overtime protection because they are classified, in some cases incorrectly, as executive, administrative, and professional or "EAP" employees); and workers whose rights are strengthened (they are currently at risk of being classified as EAP employees).
*** Race/ethnicity categories are mutually exclusive (i.e., white non-Hispanic, black non-Hispanic, and Hispanic any race).
Note: Subtotals may not add up to totals due to rounding.
Source: EPI analysis of the U.S. Department of Labor's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2015) and Current Population Survey Merged Outgoing Rotation Group microdata (CPS MORG)
Number of mothers, fathers, and children newly covered by updated overtime salary threshold, by demographic, 2014
| Covered under $455 | Covered under $933 | Newly covered under $933 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mothers | 1,017,000 | 3,419,000 | 2,402,000 |
| Fathers | 666,000 | 2,885,000 | 2,219,000 |
| Children (under 18) | 3,600,000 | 12,780,000 | 9,179,000 |
Note: The sample reflects salaried (nonhourly) workers who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This excludes certain groups of workers such as the self-employed, most federal workers, religious workers, many agricultural workers, and many transportation workers.
Source: EPI analysis of the U.S. Department of Labor's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2015) and Current Population Survey Merged Outgoing Rotation Group microdata (CPS MORG)
Salaried workers directly benefiting from the proposed increase in the overtime salary threshold, by state, 2014
| State | Total salaried workers* | Directly benefiting salaried workers** | Share of state’s salaried workers that are directly benefiting | State’s share of directly benefiting workers | State’s share of total salaried workforce |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (A) | (B) | (C)=(B/A) | (D)=(Bx/B1) | (E)=(Ax/A1) | |
| United States(1) | 52,522,000 | 13,463,000 | 25.6% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Alabama | 688,000 | 206,000 | 30.0% | 1.5% | 1.3% |
| Alaska | 94,000 | 18,000 | 19.6% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
| Arizona | 985,000 | 230,000 | 23.4% | 1.7% | 1.9% |
| Arkansas | 365,000 | 130,000 | 35.5% | 1.0% | 0.7% |
| California | 5,947,000 | 1,230,000 | 20.7% | 9.1% | 11.3% |
| Colorado | 1,073,000 | 257,000 | 23.9% | 1.9% | 2.0% |
| Connecticut | 678,000 | 121,000 | 17.8% | 0.9% | 1.3% |
| Delaware | 159,000 | 45,000 | 28.2% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| District of Columbia | 166,000 | 33,000 | 20.0% | 0.2% | 0.3% |
| Florida | 3,618,000 | 1,137,000 | 31.4% | 8.4% | 6.9% |
| Georgia | 1,699,000 | 469,000 | 27.6% | 3.5% | 3.2% |
| Hawaii | 216,000 | 73,000 | 33.9% | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| Idaho | 214,000 | 63,000 | 29.5% | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| Illinois | 2,319,000 | 589,000 | 25.4% | 4.4% | 4.4% |
| Indiana | 936,000 | 267,000 | 28.5% | 2.0% | 1.8% |
| Iowa | 447,000 | 110,000 | 24.6% | 0.8% | 0.9% |
| Kansas | 470,000 | 112,000 | 23.8% | 0.8% | 0.9% |
| Kentucky | 564,000 | 164,000 | 29.0% | 1.2% | 1.1% |
| Louisiana | 710,000 | 225,000 | 31.7% | 1.7% | 1.4% |
| Maine | 182,000 | 45,000 | 24.7% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| Maryland | 1,141,000 | 249,000 | 21.9% | 1.9% | 2.2% |
| Massachusetts | 1,398,000 | 263,000 | 18.8% | 2.0% | 2.7% |
| Michigan | 1,376,000 | 345,000 | 25.0% | 2.6% | 2.6% |
| Minnesota | 1,010,000 | 230,000 | 22.8% | 1.7% | 1.9% |
| Mississippi | 363,000 | 99,000 | 27.3% | 0.7% | 0.7% |
| Missouri | 954,000 | 263,000 | 27.6% | 2.0% | 1.8% |
| Montana | 103,000 | 26,000 | 25.3% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Nebraska | 321,000 | 88,000 | 27.3% | 0.7% | 0.6% |
| Nevada | 396,000 | 123,000 | 31.0% | 0.9% | 0.8% |
| New Hampshire | 242,000 | 54,000 | 22.2% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| New Jersey | 1,898,000 | 433,000 | 22.8% | 3.2% | 3.6% |
| New Mexico | 247,000 | 61,000 | 24.6% | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| New York | 4,132,000 | 1,067,000 | 25.8% | 7.9% | 7.9% |
| North Carolina | 1,641,000 | 528,000 | 32.1% | 3.9% | 3.1% |
| North Dakota | 118,000 | 34,000 | 28.8% | 0.3% | 0.2% |
| Ohio | 1,604,000 | 412,000 | 25.7% | 3.1% | 3.1% |
| Oklahoma | 526,000 | 168,000 | 31.9% | 1.2% | 1.0% |
| Oregon | 558,000 | 131,000 | 23.5% | 1.0% | 1.1% |
| Pennsylvania | 2,004,000 | 494,000 | 24.6% | 3.7% | 3.8% |
| Rhode Island | 175,000 | 36,000 | 20.5% | 0.3% | 0.3% |
| South Carolina | 735,000 | 211,000 | 28.7% | 1.6% | 1.4% |
| South Dakota | 108,000 | 30,000 | 27.4% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Tennessee | 841,000 | 254,000 | 30.2% | 1.9% | 1.6% |
| Texas | 4,657,000 | 1,324,000 | 28.4% | 9.8% | 8.9% |
| Utah | 499,000 | 130,000 | 26.0% | 1.0% | 1.0% |
| Vermont | 104,000 | 25,000 | 24.1% | 0.2% | 0.2% |
| Virginia | 1,554,000 | 357,000 | 23.0% | 2.7% | 3.0% |
| Washington | 1,127,000 | 222,000 | 19.7% | 1.6% | 2.1% |
| West Virginia | 230,000 | 68,000 | 29.7% | 0.5% | 0.4% |
| Wisconsin | 850,000 | 198,000 | 23.3% | 1.5% | 1.6% |
| Wyoming | 80,000 | 20,000 | 24.4% | 0.1% | 0.2% |
* The sample reflects salaried (nonhourly) workers who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This excludes certain groups of workers such as the self-employed, most federal workers, religious workers, many agricultural workers, and many transportation workers.
** Directly benefiting salaried workers are those who would newly be guaranteed overtime protection by virtue of their salary alone under the proposed higher overtime threshold, i.e., they make at least $455 a week (the current threshold) but less than $933 a week (the new threshold in 2014 dollars). This includes workers who are newly eligible (they are currently excluded from automatic overtime protection because they are classified, in some cases incorrectly, as executive, administrative, and professional or "EAP" employees); and workers whose rights are strengthened (they are currently at risk of being classified as EAP employees).
Note: Subtotals may not add up to total due to rounding.
Source: EPI analysis of the U.S. Department of Labor's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2015) and Current Population Survey Merged Outgoing Rotation Group microdata (CPS MORG)
Salaried workers directly benefiting from the proposed increase in the overtime salary threshold, by major industry, 2014
| Total salaried workers* | Directly benefiting salaried workers** | Share of industry’s salaried workers that are directly benefiting | Industry’s share of directly benefiting workers | Industry’s share of total salaried workforce | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (A) | (B) | (C)=(B/A) | (D)=(Bx/B1) | (E)=(Ax/A1) | |
| All (1) | 52,522,000 | 13,463,000 | 25.6% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting | 335,000 | 117,000 | 34.9% | 0.9% | 0.6% |
| Mining | 438,000 | 99,000 | 22.6% | 0.7% | 0.8% |
| Construction | 2,272,000 | 797,000 | 35.1% | 5.9% | 4.3% |
| Manufacturing | 5,240,000 | 1,230,000 | 23.5% | 9.1% | 10.0% |
| Wholesale and retail trade | 5,349,000 | 1,808,000 | 33.8% | 13.4% | 10.2% |
| Transportation and utilities | 2,006,000 | 637,000 | 31.8% | 4.7% | 3.8% |
| Information | 1,557,000 | 366,000 | 23.5% | 2.7% | 3.0% |
| Financial activities | 5,225,000 | 1,451,000 | 27.8% | 10.8% | 9.9% |
| Professional and business services | 7,210,000 | 1,716,000 | 23.8% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| Educational and health services | 15,828,000 | 2,655,000 | 16.8% | 19.7% | 30.1% |
| Leisure and hospitality | 2,496,000 | 966,000 | 38.7% | 7.2% | 4.8% |
| Other services | 2,138,000 | 778,000 | 36.4% | 5.8% | 4.1% |
| Public administration | 2,427,000 | 843,000 | 34.7% | 6.3% | 4.6% |
* The sample reflects salaried (nonhourly) workers who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This excludes certaingroups of workers such as the self-employed, most federal workers, religious workers, many agricultural workers, and many transportation workers.
** Directly benefiting salaried workers are those who would newly be guaranteed overtime protection by virtue of their salary alone under the proposed higher overtime threshold, i.e., they make at least $455 a week (the current threshold) but less than $933 a week (the new threshold in 2014 dollars). This includes workers who are newly eligible (they are currently excluded from automatic overtime protection because they are classified, in some cases incorrectly, as executive, administrative, and professional or "EAP" employees); and workers whose rights are strengthened (they are currently at risk of being classified as EAP employees).
Note: Subtotals may not add up to total due to rounding.
Source: EPI analysis of the U.S. Department of Labor's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2015) and Current Population Survey Merged Outgoing Rotation Group microdata (CPS MORG)
Salaried workers directly benefiting from the proposed increase in the overtime salary threshold, by major occupation, 2014
| Total salaried workers* | Directly benefiting salaried workers** | Share of industry’s salaried workers that are directly benefiting | Industry’s share of directly benefiting workers | Industry’s share of total salaried workforce | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (A) | (B) | (C)=(B/A) | (D)=(Bx/B1) | (E)=(Ax/A1) | |
| All (1) | 52,522,000 | 13,463,000 | 25.6% | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Management, business, and financial occupations | 13,555,000 | 2,775,000 | 20.5% | 20.6% | 25.8% |
| Professional and related occupations | 19,160,000 | 2,702,000 | 14.1% | 20.1% | 36.5% |
| Services occupations | 4,325,000 | 1,639,000 | 37.9% | 12.2% | 8.2% |
| Sales and related occupations | 5,207,000 | 1,709,000 | 32.8% | 12.7% | 9.9% |
| Office and administrative support occupations | 4,968,000 | 2,427,000 | 48.9% | 18.0% | 9.5% |
| Farming, fishing, and forestry occupations | 245,000 | 84,000 | 34.2% | 0.6% | 0.5% |
| Construction and extraction occupations | 1,373,000 | 594,000 | 43.3% | 4.4% | 2.6% |
| Installation, maintenance, and repair occupations | 1,086,000 | 449,000 | 41.4% | 3.3% | 2.1% |
| Production occupations | 1,198,000 | 462,000 | 38.6% | 3.4% | 2.3% |
| Transportation and material moving occupations | 1,405,000 | 622,000 | 44.3% | 4.6% | 2.7% |
* The sample reflects salaried (nonhourly) workers who are subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This excludes certain groups of workers such as the self-employed, most federal workers, religious workers, many agricultural workers, and many transportation workers.
** Directly benefiting salaried workers are those who would newly be guaranteed overtime protection by virtue of their salary alone under the proposed higher overtime threshold, i.e., they make at least $455 a week (the current threshold) but less than $933 a week (the new threshold in 2014 dollars). This includes workers who are newly eligible (they are currently excluded from automatic overtime protection because they are classified, in some cases incorrectly, as executive, administrative, and professional or "EAP" employees); and workers whose rights are strengthened (they are currently at risk of being classified as EAP employees).
Note: Subtotals may not add up to total due to rounding.
Source: EPI analysis of the U.S. Department of Labor's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (2015) and Current Population Survey Merged Outgoing Rotation Group microdata (CPS MORG)
