Low-Wage Nations?

According to data by the OECD, a quarter of wage earners in the United Kingdom lag significantly behind median full-time earnings in their country. 24.7 percent of Brits earned less than two thirds of gross median pay, qualifying them as low wage earners in OECD statistics. In the United States, this number was not much lower at 22.7 percent. Another low-wage country identified in the figures was Israel.

In Poland and Germany, 18.5 percent and 16 percent, respectively, still earned low wage if following this definition. Fewer low wage earners were found in France, Norway and New Zealand, with results in the single digits.

While the United States did not report the incidence of high pay, Israel's and the United Kingdom's share there was also above average at 26.4 percent and 24.0 percent, respectively. In the OECD on average, 21.9 percent of people earned high wages - 1.5 times the median gross pay or higher - while 13.5 percent earned low pay.

Denmark was the only country with a higher share of low-wage earners - 9.8 percent - than high-wage earners - 2.5 percent (among those reporting both figures).