you, with kind of some of the history picking up on what we were just saying about the way unions used to be so strong in this country and really have a voice and be able to protect workers. as they kline declined, we have wages fall. how important is the decline of unions to the story of low wages? well, as a labor economist, i know that wage contours, wage levels are set and the economy, they re also set in politics and the law and legislation. so the lack of protection for unido u unions is instrumental in making the united states number one. sometimes it is not good to be number one. we are number one in the world in creating low wage jobs. one out of four workers in the united states is a low wage worker. meaning that they make 45% of the median wage, which is now $18,000 per year. so a quarter of our workers make $18,000 per year.
and so now i m a low wage worker. at our store in lakeview, it is not the same it is the same all over the whole country, workers are one of many who are sick and tired the way the home office is treating associates, cutting hours, making them work overtime, not getting paid unless it is company approved and taking extended lunches and things of that nature, just unfair practices. we heard reports that of what you would call wage theft, where people are pressured to work overtime, off the clock, right? and basically the message is, if you don t like your job here, if you re not willing to do those sorts of things, take a hike. we have a thousand other workers behind you ready to take that low wage job. we re going to pick up on that point and get josh barrow in this conversation as well right after this. [ female announcer ] we eased your back pain.
or higher. so we re not talking about teenagers after school work here. we re talking about people not anymore. so this industry has changed. yes. do you think the mcdonald s of the world and the burger kings are going to say okay, we ve got to pay more? i think that the workers joining together and with us supporting them are going to be able to make a very legitimate case, that we have to change the direction of this low-wage economy. and it begins with fast food, but it should expand to retail. it should include walmart. every low wage worker who works for a living should not be living in poverty in this country any longer. and thank god for the fast food workers standing up and making this case. why haven t unions organized labor been able to penetrate walmart? i think because this company is incredibly resistant. but the walmart workers have also been incredibly resillient.
and at lot of republicans i think can really make a sound argument, if you just stop, get off the talking point, and look at the economy from the perspective of the worker and the manager and realize that there may be a synergy here that helps us boost this economy in a different direction than the one we re currently on and may start with workers in places like a mcdonald s or fast food restaurant who are growing part of this. you have people pushed out of big paying jobs who now are having to realign themselves in this economy and so this is not just touching the low wage worker, it s touching everybody in a significant way. absolutely. you know, michael steele, is at the edge of truth here because the the edge. something has gone awry in our culture, our political culture over the last 20 to 25 years. whenever the economy is in the state of flux or in a state of trouble, too many public people in politics take aim at people living at the economic fringe.
bryant s income, in just five seconds he s earning $14, twice as much as the minimum wage worker makes in two hours. the ceo of exxon mobil $5 in 15 seconds. an elementary school teacher in half a minute equals 21 cents. kobe bryant at $81 and 50 seconds the president is earning $2.40 and if we add up to a minute a median wage worker in the u.s. has 27 cents. it s an interesting video at cnn money but if you look at incomes there are two americas growing further apart. mort zuckerman, welcome to the program. you wrote an op-ed in the wall street journal, you called this phase of america the grand illusi illusion, the happy talk and