Most are white, but minorities are overrepresented. Hispanic workers account for 16 percent of the work force but 24 percent of those who would be affected by the wage increase. For African-Americans, the comparable shares are 11 percent of the work force and 15 percent of those who would gain from the increase.

They’ve got some schooling, though less than other workers. Of those who would be affected by the increase, 78 percent have at least finished high school, about one-third have some college under their belts, and about 10 percent have graduated from college. By comparison, 91 percent of the total work force has at least graduated from high school, and 34 percent have completed college.

As with the population as a whole, low-wage workers are more educated than in the past. In the late 1960s, less than half had finished high school and only 17 percent had attended any college at all.

Their earnings are a big part of their family budgets. The average worker in this group brings home half of his or her household’s earnings; 19 percent of those who would get the raise are sole earners. Parents who would benefit from the increase bring home an even larger share of their families’ earnings: 60 percent.

They’re in every state, but are overrepresented in the South. Because most of the states that have raised their minimums above the federal level are outside the South, a national increase would have more bite there. Workers in Southern states make up 17 percent of the nation’s work force but 21 percent of minimum-wage beneficiaries; workers in Northern states make up about the same share of the work force but just 16 percent of those who benefit from the proposed increase.

The debate to raise the minimum rage will no doubt rage on, as diverse views persist both in the work force and the halls of politics. But it’s important to know who we’re talking about in terms of those who benefit from the policy. Our workers, including the low-wage sector, have aged and become more educated in recent decades, at the same time that changes in trade, technology, and bargaining power have pushed against their earnings.

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Note: Most of the statistics come from David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute. His calculations include so-called spillover effects: Minimum wage researchers have found that employers often increase the pay of those earning slightly above the new minimum to roughly maintain their relative wage structure. A Congressional Budget Office report gets similar results to Mr. Cooper’s. For example, the budget office finds that 53 percent of affected workers work at least 35 hours per week, compared with 54 percent in the Cooper study.