2004-02-06 10:23![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nightrythm
nightrythmExerpts from http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040209&c=1&s=shulman
“Thirty million Americans make less than $8.70 an hour, the official US poverty level for a family of four.”
“In 1995 less than half of workers making under $20,000 a year were offered health insurance by their employer. Only one in five workers with incomes below $20,000 has pension coverage. For low-wage parents with children under 6, one-third do not get paid vacations or paid holidays. And most low-wage jobs fail to provide sick pay or disability pay.”
This is truly a sad state of affairs. We need to raise minimum wage. People should earn a living wage that reflects inflation. *gah*
“Thirty million Americans make less than $8.70 an hour, the official US poverty level for a family of four.”
“In 1995 less than half of workers making under $20,000 a year were offered health insurance by their employer. Only one in five workers with incomes below $20,000 has pension coverage. For low-wage parents with children under 6, one-third do not get paid vacations or paid holidays. And most low-wage jobs fail to provide sick pay or disability pay.”
This is truly a sad state of affairs. We need to raise minimum wage. People should earn a living wage that reflects inflation. *gah*
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How many of these people are making money for more than just themselves? Or trying to support a family of four? How many are supplementing family income (2nd or third household job)? How many are teenagers working movie theaters and local fast food for spending cash? My mom fits in this category - with her second of 3 jobs. Her household income is significantly higher as her primary job is in the high $12/hr and she gets rent from my bro. (Nursery care at church is "mad money" she's saving for a trip to Hawaii when my sis graduates.)
I want a breakdown of how many "family of four"s are living on only one of these incomes.
“In 1995 less than half of workers making under $20,000 a year were offered health insurance by their employer. Only one in five workers with incomes below $20,000 has pension coverage. For low-wage parents with children under 6, one-third do not get paid vacations or paid holidays. And most low-wage jobs fail to provide sick pay or disability pay.”
What is considered low-wage parent? Is this low-wage household income or low-wage second parent income? My mom worked a lot of shitty fast-food jobs when my bro was small and so would easily have fit into this category, but our household income was quite adequate.
I want better clarifications on the assumptions/categorizations of this data. But then, I say that with practically every statistic any publication gives me. Too much training from my environmental legal issues and Jay's research studies to take numbers like that at face value.