By Barbara Rose
Tribune staff reporter
October 12, 2004
One of four working American families earns wages so low they struggle
to survive financially, according to a report due out Tuesday.
These 9.2 million families include 20 million children. Their
breadwinners work an average of 1.2 jobs. Most are in their prime
working years. And 72 percent were born in the United States.
The study, funded by the Annie E. Casey, Ford and Rockefeller
foundations, paints a portrait of janitors, cooks, cashiers and
health-care aides who barely make ends meet in a nation where
good-paying jobs are out of reach for many.
"One emergency--a broken-down car, rent increase or serious
illness--can disrupt the family's precarious equilibrium and plunge
them into financial chaos," the report states.
The non-partisan report spotlights a growing disparity between low-wage
earners and the educated skilled workers that U.S. businesses
increasingly demand.
Its release comes in the final weeks of a heated presidential campaign
in which issues concerning low-income families largely have taken a
back seat to those of the middle class and to worries about terrorism
and the war in Iraq.
"What we haven't come to grips with is how large this number is" of
working low-income families, said Brandon Roberts, co-author of
"Working Hard, Falling Short."
"This is an issue of our national competitiveness. If these families are not poised to succeed, it should concern all of us."
President Bush's campaign stresses tax incentives to encourage
businesses to hire new workers, while Sen. John Kerry has called for an
increase in the $5.15 hourly minimum wage to $7 by 2007.
The report looked at families earning less than twice the federal
poverty level, or less than $36,784 for a family of four. The U.S.
median income for a family of four is $62,732.
They include families like that of Chicago's Miriam Perez, 39, a day
laborer who worked double shifts chopping vegetables or packing
tomatoes to support her five children until that work dried up.
"Sometimes I don't sleep very much," said Perez, who earns the state
mandated $5.50 hourly minimum wage. "When I can get (a double shift) I
take it to get the overtime."
Illinois news mixed
Illinois, one of 12 states with minimum wages above the federal
standard, gets a mixed report from the national study and a companion
report.
A total of 23 percent of the state's working families are low income, slightly better than the national average of 27 percent.
Yet Illinois compared poorly in several important educational measures.
Thirty-four percent of Illinois' low-income working families are headed
by a parent without a high school diploma or the equivalent, ranking
the state 40th nationally.
Illinois also spends less on education and training than the national
average per adult without a high school diploma. The state spends
$14.88 per non-degree adult compared with an average $58.99 nationally,
ranking No. 33 among all states.
More alarming, less than one-third of Illinois adults enrolled in high
school degree or equivalency programs are successful, according to a
February report by the nonprofit Chicago Jobs Council and Women
Employed Institute.
"It's going to be a challenge for Illinois to attract new jobs to the
state" without a better record, said Rachel Unruh, senior policy
associate at Women Employed.
The national report calls for increasing the number of low-income working adults who complete education and training programs.
More than one-third of working low-income families have a parent who didn't finish high school.
The report also calls for improving wages, benefits and supports for
low-income working families and increasing the number of good jobs.
Poverty jobs nearly one-fifth
In Illinois, 18 percent of all jobs are in occupations where the median wage is less than the federal poverty threshold.
Yolanda Starling, 25, a single mother of three, works in one such job.
She earns $7.14 per hour working for food service company Sodexho as a
cashier at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
Her hours recently were cut to 27 per week, providing her with less than $1,000 per month.
Her monthly rent is $500, placing her squarely in the majority of
working low-income families who spend more than one-third of their
income on housing.
"I need better wages," Starling said. "Other than that it'd be a good job."
Her goal is to attend night classes at Kennedy-King College to become a
licensed practical nurse. "I'm trying to start back before Christmas,"
she said.
Perez, the day laborer, sets aside money from the combined $2,000 per
month she and her 18-year-old son bring home to pay his tuition at
Wilbur Wright College.
Ricardo Sanchez studied Monday morning in a computer lab at the
nonprofit Goodwill Industries International Inc. after getting off his
shift stocking shelves at a Jewel Food store at Ohio and State streets,
where he makes $7.70 per hour.
The 21-year-old Chicago native is studying to complete his high school
equivalency, but he's also looking for a second job to support his
pregnant wife and her two children. His wife works at a Lane Bryant
store.
They recently ate rice and bologna sandwiches for dinner when they ran short of cash.
"I'm looking for anything, I just keep looking," Sanchez said.
The national report cites a challenging environment.
One in five jobs in the U.S. was in an occupation that paid a median
hourly wage less than $8.84 in 2002--roughly the federal poverty
threshold.
Minimum-wage jobs have lost their ability to keep a family out of
poverty since a high point in 1968. Then, annual earnings of a
full-time minimum wage earner totaled 1.2 times the poverty threshold
for a family of three, according to the report.
Last year, annual minimum wage earnings represented 74 percent of the poverty threshold.
Those at the bottom of the educational ladder are losing ground: Real
wages for workers without high school diplomas declined 19 percent over
the last 30 years, while real wages increased 16 percent for those with
college degrees.
"Two related warning signals are sounding loudly and urgently," the
report states. "First, millions of American families are living on
incomes that inadequately meet their basic needs.
"Second, our economic structure faces a major challenge: finding
skilled and well-educated workers, without whom U.S. businesses will be
hard-pressed to compete."
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune