{"id":267578,"date":"2021-08-08T16:07:14","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T16:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=617e39c6b7be926d0488dbd66c72e92c"},"modified":"2021-08-08T16:07:14","modified_gmt":"2021-08-08T16:07:14","slug":"at-least-27-million-workers-cant-afford-all-the-basic-necessities-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/08\/08\/at-least-27-million-workers-cant-afford-all-the-basic-necessities-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"At Least 27 Million Workers Can\u2019t Afford All the Basic Necessities of Life"},"content":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/at-least-27-million-workers-cant-afford-all-the-basic-necessities-of-life\/\"><img width=\"200\" height=\"133\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1323834224-200x133.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Cashiers work at El Presidente Supermarket in Florida, Miami Beach, on April 17, 2021.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1323834224-200x133.jpg 200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1323834224-400x267.jpg 400w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1323834224-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1323834224-800x533.jpg 800w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1323834224-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1323834224-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1323834224-2400x1600.jpg 2400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><p>The Biden administration is likely celebrating a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/pdf\/empsit.pdf\">better-than-expected jobs report<\/a>, which showed surging employment and wages. However, for millions of working Americans, being employed doesn\u2019t guarantee a living income.<\/p>\n<p>As <a href=\"https:\/\/sgpp.arizona.edu\/people\/jeff-kucik\">scholars interested<\/a> in the <a href=\"https:\/\/knowlton.osu.edu\/people\/leonard.471\">well-being of workers<\/a>, we believe that the economy runs better when people aren\u2019t forced to choose between paying rent, buying food or getting medicine. Yet too many are compelled to do just that.<\/p>\n<p>Determining just how many workers struggle to make ends meet is a complicated task. A worker\u2019s minimum survival budget can vary considerably based on where the person lives and how many people are in the family.<\/p>\n<p>Take Rochester, New York. It has a cost of living that\u2019s closest to the national average across 509 U.S. metropolitan areas, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/advisorsmith.com\/data\/coli\">City Cost of Living Index<\/a> compiled by the research firm AdvisorSmith.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/livingwage.mit.edu\/\">MIT\u2019s living wage calculator<\/a> shows that a single adult living in Rochester <a href=\"https:\/\/livingwage.mit.edu\/metros\/40380\">needs at least US$30,000<\/a> a year to cover the cost of housing, food, transportation and other basic needs.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400px\" style=\"border: none;\" id=\"DbvdV\" class=\"tc-infographic-datawrapper\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/DbvdV\/8\/\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But in San Francisco, which AdvisorSmith data indicate is the U.S. city with the highest cost of living, affording just the basics <a href=\"https:\/\/livingwage.mit.edu\/metros\/41860\">costs $47,587<\/a>, mainly due to significantly higher taxes and <a href=\"https:\/\/data.census.gov\/cedsci\/table?q=median%20rent&amp;y=2019&amp;tid=ACSDT1Y2019.B25031\">rents<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The city with the <a href=\"https:\/\/livingwage.mit.edu\/metros\/13220\">lowest cost of living is Beckley, West Virginia<\/a>. Even there, a childless worker still needs to earn about $28,200 to make essential ends meet. Again, <a href=\"https:\/\/advisorsmith.com\/data\/coli\/\">the average American city<\/a> has a cost of living of around $30,000 a year for a single person.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, costs add up quickly for households with more than one person. Two adults in Rochester need over $48,000 a year, while a single parent with one child needs more than $63,000. In San Francisco, a single parent would need to earn $101,000 a year just to scrape by.<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s what it takes to survive in today\u2019s America. About $30,000 a year for a single person without dependents in the average city &#8212; a little less in some cities, and much, much more for families and anyone who lives in a major city like San Francisco or New York.<\/p>\n<p>But we estimate that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/oes\/current\/oes_stru.htm#41-0000\">at least 27 million U.S. workers<\/a> don\u2019t earn enough to hit that very low threshold of $30,000, based on the latest occupation wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a government agency, from May 2020. We believe this is a conservative estimate and that the number of people with jobs who earn less than what\u2019s necessary to afford the necessities of life is likely much higher.<\/p>\n<p>Low-income occupations encompass a wide range of jobs, from bus drivers to cleaners to administrative assistants. However, the majority of those 27 million workers are concentrated in two industries: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/iag\/tgs\/iag44-45.htm\">retail trade<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/iag\/tgs\/iag70.htm\">leisure and hospitality<\/a>. These two industries are among America\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/emp\/tables\/employment-by-major-industry-sector.htm\">largest employers<\/a> and pay the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/oes\/current\/oessrci.htm\">lowest average wages<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For example, the median salary for cashiers was $28,850 in early 2020, with 2.5 million of the nation\u2019s 5 million cashiers earning less than that. Or take retail sales. There, 75% of workers &#8212; about 1.8 million &#8212; were earning less than $27,080 a year.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the same story for leisure and hospitality, the industry that took the hardest hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href=\"https:\/\/data.bls.gov\/timeseries\/CEU7072000006?amp%253bdata_tool=XGtable&amp;output_view=data&amp;include_graphs=true\">hemorrhaging 6 million jobs<\/a> in April 2020 as much of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/03\/16\/business\/economy\/coronavirus-us-economy-shutdown.html\">U.S. economy shut down<\/a>. At the time, close to a million waiters and waitresses were earning less than the median income of $23,740.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, millions of those jobs have returned, and wages have been surging this year &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2021-06-30\/inflation-eats-at-surging-u-s-wages-with-biden-agenda-at-stake\">though only slightly more than inflation<\/a>. But that doesn\u2019t change the basic math that roughly 1 in 6 workers is making less than what\u2019s necessary for an adult with no kids to survive.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why it\u2019s hardly surprising that 40% of U.S. households reported in 2018 that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.federalreserve.gov\/publications\/files\/2017-report-economic-well-being-us-households-201805.pdf\">they couldn\u2019t afford an emergency $400 expense<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To us, these figures should cause policymakers to redefine who counts among the \u201cworking poor.\u201d A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/opub\/reports\/working-poor\/2019\/home.htm\">2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics report<\/a> estimated that in 2019 about 6.3 million workers earned less than the poverty rate.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400px\" style=\"border: none;\" id=\"beS6c\" class=\"tc-infographic-datawrapper\" src=\"https:\/\/datawrapper.dwcdn.net\/beS6c\/4\/\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>But this situation drastically understates the scope of the working poor because the <a href=\"https:\/\/aspe.hhs.gov\/topics\/poverty-economic-mobility\/poverty-guidelines\/prior-hhs-poverty-guidelines-federal-register-references\/2021-poverty-guidelines\">federal poverty line<\/a> is unrealistically low &#8212; only $12,880 for an individual. The official poverty line <a href=\"https:\/\/www.investopedia.com\/terms\/f\/fpl.asp\">was created to determine eligibility<\/a> for Medicaid and other government benefits that support low-income people, not to indicate how much a person needs to actually get by.<\/p>\n<p>Writer James Truslow Adams <a href=\"https:\/\/daily.jstor.org\/james-truslow-adams-dreaming-american-dream\/\">coined the phrase \u201cThe American Dream\u201d<\/a> in 1931 to describe a society in which he hoped anyone could attain the \u201cfullest stature of which they are innately capable.\u201d That depended on having a good job that paid a living wage.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, for many millions of hard-working Americans, the \u201cbetter and richer and fuller\u201d life <a href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/The-Epic-of-America\/Adams\/p\/book\/9781412847438\">Adams wrote about<\/a> remains just a dream.<img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/165706\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/the-ohio-state-university-759\"><\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>This article is republished from <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/\">The Conversation<\/a><em> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/forget-the-american-dream-millions-of-working-americans-still-cant-afford-food-and-rent-165706\">original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/at-least-27-million-workers-cant-afford-all-the-basic-necessities-of-life\/\">Latest \u2013 Truthout<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/articles\/at-least-27-million-workers-cant-afford-all-the-basic-necessities-of-life\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"133\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1323834224-200x133.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Cashiers work at El Presidente Supermarket in Florida, Miami Beach, on April 17, 2021.\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">Millions of working Americans are forced to choose between paying rent, buying food or getting medicine.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":7499,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1744,16801,7534,4721,33256,33257,33258,277],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267578"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7499"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=267578"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268521,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/267578\/revisions\/268521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=267578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=267578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=267578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}