 Nationwide, the poverty rate for tipped workers is nearly double the poverty rate of non-tipped workers. But importantly, not every state allows for a lower-tipped minimum wage. In states like California, Alaska, Montana, and a handful of others, tipped workers get the full regular minimum wage, just like any other employee would. And in these states, the poverty rate for tipped workers is four percentage points lower on average than in the states where tipped workers get the 213 minimum wage. Among just waiters, bartenders, the poverty rate is eight percentage points lower in the states where these workers get the full minimum wage. One of the reasons why so many tipped workers struggle to make ends meet is because their take-home pay is extremely unpredictable. They make it good shifts one week and bad shifts the next week. In fact, scheduling four tipped workers tends to be highly erratic. Oftentimes, with employers scheduling workers at the last minute, imagine scrambling to find a babysitter on a Friday afternoon when you just got word that you're going to be allowed to work that night. And this makes it really hard for tipped workers to budget or plan. It's really hard to figure out if you can afford car payments or rent, let alone child care, if you don't know how much your paycheck is going to be each week. Most tipped workers don't get any sorts of benefits either, like health insurance, life insurance, retirement accounts, or even paid sick leave. Think about that. The person who's serving you food doesn't get paid time off from their employer to stay home and get healthy. And because their wages are dependent on tips, there's actually incentive for them to work sick on the days when they'd interact with the most customers and then potentially take time off on the days when they'd interact with fewer customers if they can afford to take time off at all.