An "insured worker" is an individual who has been paid wages in his base period for insured work equal to or exceeding one and one-half times the total of his wages paid in the quarter of such base period in which his wages for insured work were highest; provided, however, that no individual shall qualify as an insured worker unless he has been paid at least nine hundred dollars in his base period for insured work and five hundred forty dollars in that quarter of his base period in which such wages were highest.