Excerpt from WORKING POOR FAMILIES PROJECT brief

The Working Poor Families Project policy brief: winter 2010-2011


Key Findings from 2009:

  1)  There were more than 10 million
low-income working
families in the United States,
an increase of nearly a quarter
million from the previous year.

  2)  Forty-five million people,
including 22 million children,
lived in low-income working
families, an increase of 1.7
million people from 2008.

3)  Forty-three percent of working
families with at least one
minority parent were low-
income, nearly twice the
proportion of white working
families (22 percent).

4)  Income inequality continued to
grow with the richest 20
percent of working families
taking home 47 percent of all
income and earning 10 times
that of low-income working
families.



During the Great Recession, unemployment rates reached their
highest levels in more than 25 years, drawing attention to the
millions of Americans who lost their jobs during the economic
downturn. But there is another—mostly untold—story in the
federal employment statistics:  more families who have
managed to continue working are hard-pressed to stay afloat in
the weak economy.

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that in 2009, there
were more than 10 million low-income working families in the
United States.  Between 2007 and 2009, the share of working
families who are low-income—earning less than 200 percent of
the official poverty threshold—increased from 28 percent to 30
percent. This now means that nearly 1 in 3 working families in
the United States, despite their hard work, are struggling to
meet basic needs. The plight of these families now challenges a
fundamental assumption that in America, work pays.

Although low-income working families remain mostly invisible
to policymakers, these families are comprised of workers who
form the backbone of our economy: working the cash registers,
keeping our homes and businesses clean, preparing our food,
and helping care for our children and elderly relatives. During
these grave economic times, policymakers must choose to invest
in these low-income workers and their families. Such
investments are vital for the United States to maintain a strong,
growing economy, and to “reduce the personal, social and
economic costs imposed by low wages and poverty” in America.

Supported by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Joyce and Mott Founda-
tions, The Working Poor Families Project is a national initiative
that seeks to strengthen state policies that can assist families
striving to work their way into the middle class and achieve
economic security. For the past eight years, WPFP has analyzed
the conditions of working families, noting the magnitude of the
problem as well as the inadequacy of public policies to serve
working families. This new analysis, with the latest U.S. Census data
available, shows that the economic turmoil of the Great Recession
has raised the problem to a critical level, creating even greater
challenges for working families in their drive for economic
success and security.

To find out more, visit: http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/