In many American communities, families working in low-wage jobs make insufficient income to live locally given the local cost of living.
Recently, in a number of high-cost communities, community organizers and citizens have successfully argued that the prevailing wage offered by the public sector and key businesses should reflect a wage rate required to meet minimum standards of living.
Therefore we have developed a living wage calculator to estimate the cost of living in your community or region. The calculator lists typical expenses, the living wage and typical wages for the selected location.
Recent Articles
Ikea Places Number 63 on the 2016 Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work for List
Written by on 03/07/2016
Ikea U.S. placed number 63 on the 2016 Fortune 100 best companies to work for list. Ikea is number seven among retailers on the list.
Co-workers of the company ranked Ikea using the Great Place to Work Trust Index Employee Survey and answered questions about how frequently they experience the behaviors that create a great workplace.
Career Bliss evaluated thousands of independent company reviews posted to their websites by employees who rate their workplace according to factors that can influence one's professional happiness.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation developed the index, which evaluates corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality. Ikea received a perfect score on the Index.
In June 2014, Ikea announced a new wage structure, which bases minimum hourly wages on local living costs for co-workers as opposed to the local competitive situation.
Ikea US offers retail industry-leading scheduling, providing schedules three weeks in...
Read moreMinimum Wage: Can an Individual or a Family Live on It?
Written by on 01/16/2016
While the minimum wage sets an earnings threshold under which our society is not willing to let families slip, it failed to approximate the basic expenses of families in 2014. Consequently, many working adults must seek public assistance and/or hold multiple jobs in order to afford to feed, clothe, house, and provide medical care for themselves and their families.
Establishing a living wage, an approximate income needed to meet a family’s basic needs, would enable the working poor to achieve financial independence while maintaining housing and food security. When coupled with lowered expenses, for childcare and housing in particular, the living wage might also free up resources for savings, investment, and/or for the purchase of capital assets (e.g. provisions for retirement or home purchases) that build wealth and ensure long-term financial security.
An analysis of the living wage, compiling geographically specific expenditure data for food, childcare, health care, housin...
Read more2014 Data Indicate That Four in Ten Children Live in Low-Income Families Half of These Are in Poor Families and Nearly Half of Those in Deeply Poor Families
Written by on 12/17/2015
Carsey Institute Brief, University of New Hampshire
December 16, 2015
As we approach the holidays, new analysis from the UNH Carsey School of Public Policy illustrates the impact of poverty on the lives of America's children. While most American adults will celebrate the holidays with some level of economic security, almost 50% of the nation's children live in uncertain circumstances attributable to low family income.
KEY FINDINGS
In 2014, more than four in ten children (44.1 percent) lived in low-income families, defined as families with income below 200 percent of the official poverty line.
More than one-fifth of children (21.7 percent) were poor, that is, lived below the poverty line, and nearly one-tenth (9.6 percent) lived in deep poverty, defined as having incomes below 50 percent of the poverty line.
The share of children living in deeply poor, poor, and low-income homes declined between 2013 and 2014.
The share of children living in low-income families...
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