RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia is getting a better picture of hourly and minimum wage workers throughout the state.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says nearly 1.7 million Virginia workers were paid at hourly rates in 2011 and 7.1 percent — nearly 121,000 — of them were paid at or below the federal minimum wage.

That’s down from 7.9 percent in 2010. However, the percentage has climbed steadily over the last 10 years from 2.5 percent in 2001.

The numbers released Friday show that of the Virginia workers being paid at or below the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, 55 percent were women and 45 percent are men.

Virginia tied for the seventh-highest in the country for the proportion of hourly workers being paid at or below the minimum wage in 2011.

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