The difference in the number of Harvard workers earning below a living wage is simply the result of opposing definitions of the word “worker.”

While the University figure includes only workers directly on Harvard’s payroll, the number being pushed by the student protesters includes both subcontracted and casual employees.

The University’s figures are taken from a 100-page report released last spring. In response to PSLM’s agitation for a living wage, a high-ranking committee of faculty members and administrators recommended last spring that the University enlarge the scope of worker benefits, including health insurance, education and access to campus facilities.

The report notes that out of 12,722 regular employees, 372 directly hired, unionized workers earn less than $10 per hour. And “somewhat less than a quarter” of approximately 2,000 subcontracted workers—employees of outside companies working on campus—earned less than the living wage figure.

The report does not provide an estimate for a number of casual workers earning less than the living wage.

PSLM members say, however, that they are campaigning for all campus workers—not just those individuals directly on Harvard’s payroll. They say that including these two subsets of workers brings the number up to at least 1,500 people earning less than $10.25 per hour.

They note that their numbers are taken directly from the University’s report.