146 Millions American Doing Jobs American will not do.
Working, but still poor
Why is it that millions of Americans who have jobs can’t make ends meet?
By The Week Staff | January 30, 2013
Who are the working poor?
….retail clerks at chains like Wal-Mart, fast-food workers, dishwashers, customer assistance representatives, home health-care aides, factory workers, and farm laborers. Some 46.2 million Americans now live in families where someone is working but earning less than the poverty line: $11,702 a year for an individual or $23,021 for a family of four.
…there are more than 146 million Americans in the poor-but-working class.
Where do they live and work?
About half the working poor are white, mostly living in the South or Southwest.
…typical worker eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax break for low-income workers, has an adjusted gross income of $13,900. Since the Great Recession of 2008, about 60 percent of the jobs created in the U.S. have been low-wage ones. One out of four Americans now earns less than $10 an hour.
Do the working poor pay taxes?
They pay federal payroll taxes and sales taxes at the same rate as more affluent Americans, but they do not pay federal income taxes……..low incomes qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit and often the Child Tax Credit.
Why not simply get a better job?
The best way out of low-paying work is to get a good higher education. But most of the working poor come from struggling communities where schools are not well financed, and kids who attend bad elementary and high schools are far less likely to attend college. Even today, only 30 percent of Americans get college degrees.
How taxpayers subsidize Wal-Mart.
Walmart is the largest private employer in the U.S.—and has the most workers on public assistance…..designed to force full-time workers to downgrade their status to part-time, so they would not qualify for health insurance or other benefits. The result is that hundreds of thousands of Walmart employees rely on state benefits or Medicaid.
Link;
The Week, 2013-02-08
Working, but still poor
Why is it that millions of Americans who have jobs can’t make ends meet?
By The Week Staff | January 30, 2013
Who are the working poor?
….retail clerks at chains like Wal-Mart, fast-food workers, dishwashers, customer assistance representatives, home health-care aides, factory workers, and farm laborers. Some 46.2 million Americans now live in families where someone is working but earning less than the poverty line: $11,702 a year for an individual or $23,021 for a family of four.
…there are more than 146 million Americans in the poor-but-working class.
Where do they live and work?
About half the working poor are white, mostly living in the South or Southwest.
…typical worker eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax break for low-income workers, has an adjusted gross income of $13,900. Since the Great Recession of 2008, about 60 percent of the jobs created in the U.S. have been low-wage ones. One out of four Americans now earns less than $10 an hour.
Do the working poor pay taxes?
They pay federal payroll taxes and sales taxes at the same rate as more affluent Americans, but they do not pay federal income taxes……..low incomes qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit and often the Child Tax Credit.
Why not simply get a better job?
The best way out of low-paying work is to get a good higher education. But most of the working poor come from struggling communities where schools are not well financed, and kids who attend bad elementary and high schools are far less likely to attend college. Even today, only 30 percent of Americans get college degrees.
How taxpayers subsidize Wal-Mart.
Walmart is the largest private employer in the U.S.—and has the most workers on public assistance…..designed to force full-time workers to downgrade their status to part-time, so they would not qualify for health insurance or other benefits. The result is that hundreds of thousands of Walmart employees rely on state benefits or Medicaid.
Link;
The Week, 2013-02-08
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