There’s Not A Single U.S. County Where A Minimum Wage Worker Can Support A Family
This may not be surprising to anyone, but there is not a single county in the United States in which a minimum wage earner can support a family. Not one. Despite efforts made in some states and various cities — like Seattle, which passed legislation last yearthat will raise the minimum wage to $15 for many employees by January 1, 2017 — a family cannot fully survive making just the minimum.
While Republicans actively work to demonize the very idea of a minimum wage increase with some, like 2016 presidential hopeful Jeb Bush, even pushing for a complete eradication of the minimum wage altogether, we have a serious problem in the United States that persists no matter how much one may try to deny it. Republicans love to complain about the “takers” eating up all that sweet, sweet SNAP money — and they have no qualms with cutting benefits to low-income families — but this only exacerbates the problem presented by those filthy poors demanding all the luxuries in life (like eating meals regularly and having running water).
Last year, the Washington Post reported that President Obama’s proposed $10.10 minimum wage would decrease federal food stamp spending by a whopping $4.6 billion. According to Democrats, this increase from the current $7.25 per hour would help life 9.2 percent of food stamp recipients out of the morass of extreme poverty, allowing them to at least purchase food without relying on “handouts,” as conservatives like to say.
In May, the Economist reported:
Across most rich countries and American states, minimum wages tend to rise with income levels. Australia, with a real GDP per person of nearly $45,000, sets a minimum wage rate of $10.5 an hour—well above the $2.9 wage floor in Chile, where income per person is about half Australia’s. Richer American states like Connecticut and California also tend to set higher minimum wage levels than poorer ones, like Florida.Yet America as a whole is an outlier among advanced economies. Given the pattern across the rest of the OECD, a group of mostly rich countries, one would expect America, where GDP per person is $53,000, to pay a minimum wage around $12 an hour. That would mean a raise of about 65% for Americans earning the minimum pay rate.
Simply put, America needs to get its sh*t in order. Though some states have had a higher-than-federal minimum wage for quite some time, MIT’s recently-released Living Wage Map illustrates the issue presented with wages across the nation.
In Ohio County, West Virginia, for example — in a state in which the minimum wage is at exactly the current federal level — two parents and two children can not reasonably survive without safety net programs if a worker makes $7.25 per hour. In fact, at that rate, the family is $13.63 below what they would need to survive. A single parent with one child would need to earn $19.08 per hour to support the both of them, and a single adult would need $9.35 per hour. But this single county in West Virginia is not the only place in which people are hurting. In fact, there’s nowhere in the United States where the minimum wage is sufficient. See all those red areas? That’s where the minimum wage is insufficient to support a family:
MIT’s Living Wage Map — Families of four
Across the nation, it is nigh-impossible for a worker to support his or her family — or even just a child — on the minimum wage without assistance. While you might assume that there are no colors available besides shades of red and orange, there is exactly one state with only a handful of counties in which a minimum wage worker with no children can survive — Washington:
MIT’s Living Wage Map — Single adult, no children
Only in the state of Washington do we find that wages are high enough, and cost of living is low enough, that a single adult who has not married or reproduced can live above the poverty line. In Washington, the minimum wage is currently $9.32 — well above the federal level. Only in that state do we see areas where the cost of living is below the minimum wage. In Adams County, for example, a single worker with no children who is earning the minimum wage makes 42 cents per hour more than he or she needs to get by. In Pend Oreille County, that worker would be 65 cents above a level of reasonable survivability.
Some cities are attempting to address the problem. On Thursday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (or “Satan” as conservatives call him) advocated for a statewide minimum wage of $15.
“If you work full time, you shouldn’t have to live in poverty—plain and simple,” Cuomo, joined by Vice President Joe Biden, said at a recent rally. “Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour will add fairness to our economy and bring dignity and respect to 2.2 million people, many of whom have been forced to live in poverty for too long.”
Though poor people are often demonized as being unwilling to work, the majority do so. The Economic Policy Institute reports that 64.8 percent of working-age poor are eligible to work, while 35.2 percent are retired, students, or disabled. Of these eligible workers, 62.6 percent are working — 44.3 percent of whom are employed full-time. Among eligible workers, only 37 percent are not employed.
At this point, we have two choices: We can look at the sea of red on this map and act swiftly to fix the problem, or we can continue to allow hardworking Americans to suffer.
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