Liberal Democratic wunderkind Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is taking flak for asserting that “a vast majority” of American workers fail to earn a living wage — a level of pay that would allow them to meet all their basic needs. Is she right?

In a word, no. While the American middle class appeared to have shrunk over the past few decades, a majority of workers still appear to earn enough to qualify.

Ocasio-Cortez, the new congresswoman from New York, has called for sharply higher taxes on the rich to reduce inequality and help low- and middle-income workers. She’s contends that most Americans are falling behind as the rich get richer.

By some statistic measures, the middle class is no better off than it was 50 years ago. Hourly wages after inflation is taken into account, for instance, just last month matched the all-time peak set in 1972. And many major household expenses like health care and higher education cost a lot more.

The polling firm Pew Research estimates 52% of Americans now live in middle-class households, compared to two-thirds in 1971.

Living vs. minimum wage

A living wage is not the same thing as a minimum wage. The number of Americans who earn the $7.25 federal minimum wage or less, such as tipped workers, is relatively small: Just 1.84 million at the end of 2017. That’s out of a workforce of roughly 150 million-plus.

Nearly 30 states have adopted higher minimum wages that in some cases are scheduled to rise to as high $15 in the next several years. It’s unclear how many workers are paid these higher state minimum wages. See: Your state’s minimum wage

A living wage is harder to determine and much in dispute, especially at the national level. What it takes to have a decent standard of living in rural Iowa is different than it is in urban New York. The costs of housing, food, gas, utilities, clothing and medical care can vary widely.

The Living Wage Calculator, run by MIT professor Amy K. Glasmeier, tries to come up with a national number. She calculates the living wage at $16.14 an hour, but that assumes two adults working in a family of four. A couple would have to earn $67,146 a year to meet the threshold.

How many Americans earn at least $16.14 an hour? It’s complicated.

The government said the average wage of workers who are paid by the hour was $27.48 as of December. If bosses are removed from the equation, wages for so-called nonsupervisory workers is about $23 an hour. These figures include full-time as well as part-time workers.

Both of these numbers suggest the vast majority of Americans earn well above a so-called living wages, but that might be an exaggeration. A separate report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that half of all workers earn above $18 and half earn less than $18 an hour.

Even if those figures give a truer picture of what Americans are paid, a separate study by the Brookings Institution suggest that two-thirds of full-time workers earn at least a living wage.

Low-wage Americans

Nonetheless, it’s clear that millions of Americans still have trouble making ends meet despite almost 10 years of economic growth.

A study by the left-leaning National Law Employment Project, for example, estimates about 40 million Americans earn less than $15 an hour. And many families are headed by single mothers or fathers who lack a second income.

Some Democratic-dominated states such as New York, Massachusetts and California have sought to address the problem by raising the minimum wage to $15 in steps, but it remains to be seen if it will work.

Critics contend it will cost jobs and harm the economy, but so far a raft of minimum wage increases across the country appear to have done little harm. The unemployment rate has fallen close to a 50-year low of 3.9% and initial jobless claims just fell to the lowest level since 1969.