New study: You can’t live on minimum wage, By L.L. Brasier, May 30, 2011, Detroit Free Press: “Cameo Thomas of Jackson works two jobs as a nursing home aide to support her 4-year-old twin sons. One job pays $9.50 an hour, the other $13.05. Sometimes she works 60 hours a week to make ends meet — hard physical labor, most of it on her feet. ‘Sometimes I get off work and think, ‘Man, I’m going to need a new pair of shoes,” the 23-year-old said. Working harder and longer may not be enough to support a family in Michigan, particularly for employees in low-paying jobs such as retail sales, clerical work and home health care, according to a new study released today…”
Tag: Basic needs
Ohio Self-Sufficiency Standard
- Low pay linked to poverty rates, By Catherine Candisky, May 7, 2011, Columbus Dispatch: “Of Ohio’s 10 largest occupations, only one pays enough for a family of three to pay for food, housing and other basic needs: nursing. A report released yesterday found a job doesn’t always pay enough for families to be self-sufficient. Despite full-time employment, many still rely on food stamps, subsidized child care or other types of government assistance to make ends meet. ‘Poverty persists because … we have a lot of lower-paying jobs,’ said Philip E. Cole, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies, which commissioned the analysis. ‘We need to focus on jobs with good benefits.’ Cole said he thinks Ohio is investing more than any other state into creating jobs, and he commended Gov. John Kasich for his efforts to attract and retain employers. But planned cuts to the state’s subsidized child-care program will make it more difficult for many low-wage workers to keep their jobs because they can’t afford to pay someone to look after their kids, Cole said…”
- Report: Parents with low pay rely on aid, By Russ Zimmer, May 7, 2011, Zanesville Times Recorder: “Eight of the 10 largest occupations in Ohio do not pay enough for an adult with a young child to live without public assistance, according to a report released Friday. In fact, the median hourly wage in the state, $15.72, doesn’t allow a single earner with a baby to live free of welfare, according to Diana Pearce, the author of the report. Pearce based her findings on the self-sufficiency standard, a metric she developed 14 years ago that calculates the costs of basic living needs and the earnings required to cover them. The problem is a lack of good jobs, but Pearce added that Ohio’s situation is not unlike other states. The eight top jobs — fast-food worker is No. 1 with 151,000, and retail sales and cashiers round out the top three — represent about 18 percent of all workers in Ohio…”
Basic Economic Security
Beyond ‘surviving’: Defining economic security, April 14, 2011, National Public Radio: “As President Obama and members of Congress debate national budgets, Shawn McMahon has been calculating individual and family budgets. He’s the research director for Wider Opportunities for Women, a group that works with low-income women and families. The nonprofit group just released its Basic Economic Security Tables index, which measures the minimum income workers need to achieve basic economic security…”