Policy & Data Briefs from WPFP
Low-Income Working Families: Rising Inequality Despite Economic Recovery
A new report shows that despite strong job growth since the end of the Great Recession, many working families are worse off that they were in 2007, before the Great Recession began. The latest U.S. Census data shows that three out of every 10 working families were low-income in 2016. In addition, income and wealth gaps between working families at the top and bottom of the economic ladder remain at all-time highs.
The report, produced jointly PRB and The Working Poor Families Project, also found disturbing growing inequality among racial and ethnic groups. Six in 10 low-income working families are minorities. And minority working families are twice as likely to be low-income than non-minority families. As Tax Day approaches, the report calls on policymakers and employers to expand programs and strengthen benefits that help low-income working parents and their children.
Low-Income Working Families: The Racial/Ethnic Divide
There is a large and growing economic divide among America’s working families, with whites and Asians at the top and other racial/ethnic groups falling behind. While low-income working families comprise close to one-third of all working families in America, the significant differences among racial/ethnic groups present a critical challenge to ensuring economic growth and bringing opportunities to all workers, families, and communities across the United States.
In this brief, the Working Poor Families Project highlights Census Bureau data on low-income working families and differences across racial/ethnic groups. Recognizing that public policy can play a critical role in our future prosperity by reversing these conditions, we recommend state government policies and actions that would improve conditions for millions of lower-income parents and their children, reduce inequality and promote economic growth by ensuring a well-qualified workforce and a sufficient number of jobs with wages and benefits that support a family.
States Continue to Increase Access to Workplace Retirement Savings Programs
A substantial number of working families are not saving enough to meet their needs in retirement. Even before the coronavirus hit the U.S., decimating the economy and throwing millions out of work, data showed that between 40% and 75% of working families were at risk of not having enough in retirement savings to maintain their pre-retirement standard of living.
A new policy brief by the Working Poor Families Project explores legislation and policies that states have put in place to help more workers save for retirement. The brief is an update to a 2016 WPFP brief about increasing access to workplace retirement savings programs. As the country struggles through the pandemic, Americans continue to need to accumulate more savings to weather the current and future economic downturns and prepare for retirement.
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Strengthening State Policies for Working Families
Millions of American breadwinners work hard to support their families. But, despite their effort, annual WPFP analysis of U.S. Census data has shown consistently that almost one in three working families are mired in low-wage jobs that provide inadequate benefits and offer little opportunity for advancement and economic security. Compounding the problem are public policies that do not adequately prepare workers to advance to higher-skilled, higher-paying jobs or promote the creation of quality jobs.
The Working Poor Families Project (WPFP) was launched in 2002 by national philanthropic leaders who saw the need to strengthen state policies affecting these working families. This national initiative has focused on the states because their policies and investments critically affect the lives of working families.
The WPFP has worked in 22 states and the District of Columbia. In each state, the WPFP partnered with one or more nonprofit organizations to strengthen state policies to better prepare America's working families for a more secure economic future.
WPFP National Publications
Working Hard, Falling Short — America’s Working Families and the Pursuit of Economic Security
Download the report (pdf)
In 2004, the WPFP project published its seminal report on “working poor” families in America. The report starts out noting that the U.S.’s collective belief in the American Dream is challenged by the fact that millions of working families that “work hard and play by the rules” are stymied in reaching their goals for economic mobility and self-sufficiency. The report provides extensive data on these conditions at the national and state level. It furthermore identifies system and policy issues affecting these conditions as well as a set of recommendations for fostering the economic advancement of working poor families. Also, included is a set of “myths” such as low-income families do not work and are largely headed by single parents; in fact, the report shows that 71% of low-income families work and 53% are headed by married couples. The report laid the foundation for WPFP state-focused work in the following years.
Building a Foundation for Family Economic Success
Download the report (pdf)
The WPFP is dedicated to strengthening state policies and programs to support the advancement of low-income working families. In 2009, the WPFP released a report documenting the efforts of its state partner organizations to promote policy change in their respective state, with a goal of building a systemwide foundation for family economic success. The report highlights state partner efforts and successes to expand and enhance the capabilities of state systems such as adult and postsecondary education/skills development, economic development, and work/income supports to better serve low-income working families. After only five years of work, state partners assisted in achieving significant public investments in low-income working families along with a variety of important policy changes; an analysis of these efforts found that the WPFP’s state partners helped generate or preserve over $2.5 billion in public investments affecting low-income working families.
Latest WPFP State Partner Commentary:
