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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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U.S. Working Poor Population Grows, As Families Struggle To Pay The Bills
Reuters | Posted: 01/15/2013 12:00 am EST | Updated: 01/15/2013 9:28 am EST
* Last year saw 200,000 more low-income families in U.S. -report
* Despite jobs, more families can't pay basic expenses
* Analysis: U.S. South, West most affected
By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The number of U.S. families struggling with poverty despite parents being employed continued to grow in 2011 as more people returned to work but mostly at lower-paying service jobs, an analysis released on Tuesday shows.
More working parents have taken jobs as cashiers, maids, waiters and other low-wage jobs in fast growing sectors that offer fewer hours and benefits, according to The Working Poor Project, a privately funded effort aimed at improving economic security for low-income families.
The result is 200,000 more such working families - the so-called "working poor" - emerged in 2011 than in 2010, according to the report, based on analysis of the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data.
About 10.4 million such families - or 47.5 million Americans - now live near poverty, defined as earning less than 200 percent of the official poverty rate, which is $22,811 for a family of four.
Overall, nearly one-third of working families now struggle, up from 31 percent in 2010 and 28 percent in 2007, when the recession began, according to the analysis.
"Although many people are returning to work, they are often taking jobs with lower wages and less job security, compared with the middle-class jobs they held before the economic downturn," the report said.
"This means that nearly a third of all working families ... may not have enough money to meet basic needs."
The findings come three years after the nation's recession officially ended in the second half of 2009.
Brandon Roberts, co-author of the report, said the results were somewhat of a surprise after Census officials last year said the U.S. poverty rate had stabilized.
"As the economy has improved one would expect that the benefits of that improvement would to some extent tie to these low-income families, and we'd see a decrease or at least a stabilization in the numbers," said Roberts, whose project is funded by four groups, including the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Ford Foundation, and focuses on state policies.
"But the reality, the data show that the benefits of - even though it's modest economic growth - it's not going to these low-income families," he added.
The group's analysis adds to the body of data focused on the slipping U.S. middle class even as there are signs of the nation's economy slowly coming back to life with improvements in the housing sector and lower unemployment rate.
For some Americans, the comeback has yet to begin.
Data showed that the top 20 percent of Americans received 48 percent of all income while those in the bottom 20 percent got less than 5 percent, the report said.
The analysis also found regional differences.
States in the South, such as Georgia and South Carolina, and those in the West, such as Arizona and Nevada, had the greatest increase in the number of working poor. The increase was slower in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
"It's important to draw attention to the fact that there are real families behind those statistics," said Alan Essig, who heads the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, adding that his state is still struggling with housing and unemployment.
IMPACT ON CHILDREN
The effect of near poverty on the growing number of U.S. children living in such families - an increase of 2.5 million youths over five years - is also a concern.
In 2011, roughly 23.5 million, or 37 percent, of U.S. children lived in working poor families compared with about 21 million, or 33 percent, in 2007, the report said.
Part of the problem is that more parents are working in service-sector jobs that require long hours at night and on weekends and so face child-care difficulties, along with low wages and involuntary part-time status, the analysis showed.
About 25 percent of low-income parents work in one of eight jobs: cashiers, cooks, health aides, janitors, maids, retail clerks, waiters and waitresses, and drivers, it said.
Such jobs often pay minimum wage, which can vary state-by-state, although the U.S. federal minimum wage standard has stood at $7.25 an hour since 2010.
"Any little thing - a child getting sick, a car breaking down ... those are quite significant events for these working families," Roberts said.
Focusing on state policies to boost education and jobs training for their parents could help, the report concluded. Others have also pointed to other options such as greater access to paid sick leave and increased minimum wages.
"Folks in our state are working hard, but for many families, working hard just isn't enough. Things need to change," said F. Scott McCown of the Texas-based Center for Public Policy Priorities.
Roberts said some federal policies in the recent agreement averting the so-called fiscal cliff were good news. The law that avoided higher taxes and across-the-board cuts kept two key tax credits and extended unemployment benefits.
He said the recent agreement to avoid higher U.S. taxes and across-the-board cuts helped by keeping two key tax credits and unemployment benefits. But those policies were in place in 2011, when Census gathered its data.
"Even despite those policies ... these families were struggling," he said. |
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Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:19 am |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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The Michigan Department of Labor predicted since the 80's that high paying manufacturing jobs would be replaced by far lower paying service jobs.
The problem will only be exacerbated by Snyder's new Right to Work legislation. With fewer safeguards provided by unions, employment will become more discriminatory and working conditions will worsen. |
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Wed Jan 16, 2013 7:23 am |
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Adam
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
untanglingwebs schreef:
The Michigan Department of Labor predicted since the 80's that high paying manufacturing jobs would be replaced by far lower paying service jobs.
The problem will only be exacerbated by Snyder's new Right to Work legislation. With fewer safeguards provided by unions, employment will become more discriminatory and working conditions will worsen.
What percentage of Michigan's "union jobs" are in the private sector? |
_________________
Adam
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Mysearchisover.com
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FB
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Jobs
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Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:05 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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| Right to work affects far more than union rights. |
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Wed Jan 16, 2013 2:10 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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| Obama owns this economy. |
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"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Wed Jan 16, 2013 9:14 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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'Right to Work' for Less
Extremist groups, right-wing politicians and their corporate backers want to weaken the power of workers and their unions through so-called right to work for less laws. Their efforts are a partisan political ploy that undermines the basic rights of workers. By making unions weaker, these laws lower wages and living standards for all workers in the state.
In fact, workers in states with these laws earn an average of $5,680 less a year than workers in other states. Because of the higher wages, working families in states without these laws also benefit from healthier tax bases that improve their quality of life. “Right to work for less" is closer to the truth.
States with "Right to Work" Laws Have:
Lower Wages and Incomes
The average worker in states with "right to work" laws makes $1,540 a year less when all other factors are removed than workers in other states.1
Median household income in states with these laws is $6,437 less than in other states ($46,402 vs. $52,839).2
In states with "right to work" laws, 26.7 percent of jobs are in low-wage occupations, compared with 19.5 percent of jobs in other states.3
Less Job-Based Health Insurance Coverage
People in states with "right to work" laws are more likely to be uninsured (16.8 percent, compared with 13.1 percent overall; among children, it’s 10.8 percent vs. 7.5 percent).4
They’re less likely to have job-based health insurance than people in other states (56.2 percent, compared with 60.1 percent).5
Only 50.7 percent of employers in states with these laws offer insurance coverage to their employees, compared with 55.2 percent in other states. That difference is even more significant among small employers (with fewer than 50 workers)—only 34.4 percent of them offer workers health insurance, compared with 41.7 percent of small employers in other states.6
Higher Poverty and Infant Mortality Rates
Poverty rates are higher in states with "right to work" laws (15.3 percent overall and 21.5 percent for children), compared with poverty rates of 13.1 percent overall and 18.1 percent for children in states without these laws.7
The infant mortality rate is 15 percent higher in states with these laws.8
Less Investment in Education
States with "right to work" laws spend $3,392 less per pupil on elementary and secondary education than other states, and students are less likely to be performing at their appropriate grade level in math and reading.9
Higher Rates of Death on the Job
The rate of workplace deaths is 36 percent higher in states with these laws, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.10
1 Economic Policy Institute.
2 U.S. Census Bureau, Table H-8. Median Household Income by State.
3 CFED, Asset and Opportunity Scorecard.
4 Kaiser Family Foundation.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Census Bureau, POV46: Poverty Status by State: 2010, related children under 18; Table 19. Percent of Persons in Poverty, by State: 2008, 2009 and 2010.
8 Kaiser Family Foundation.
9 National Education Association, Rankings & Estimates–Rankings of the States 2011 and Estimates of School Statistics 2012, December 2011; CFED, Asset & Opportunity Scorecard.
10 AFL-CIO, Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, April 2012.
For more information and model legislation on a wide variety of working families’ state issues, including corporate accountability, green jobs, state budgets and taxes, family and medical leave, work share, WARN Act, unemployment insurance, safety and health, workers’ rights, immigration, retirement security and workforce investment, please contact:
AFL-CIO State Government Relations
Copyright © 2013 AFL-CIO |
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Wed Jan 16, 2013 9:27 pm |
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westflint
F L I N T O I D
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| so true, It is really hard to survive here. |
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Wed Jan 16, 2013 9:38 pm |
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pan8
F L I N T O I D
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And Chrysler will soon be building Jeeps in China. America I sure am glad we bailed out the auto industry. Wonder what the unions think of this? Hey, he's not my president!
Pan8 |
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Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:32 pm |
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