How much does it take to get by where you live? A new report concludes that current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour doesn’t come close, anywhere in the United States. It takes more than $15 per hour to earn a living wage in most states. When you throw in the rising cost of student debt, low-income Americans are even further underwater.
The report, “Waiting for the Payoff: How Low Wages and Student Debt Keep Prosperity Out of Reach (pdf),” was issued this week by the People’s Action Institute. Among its findings:
* It takes more than $15 per hour to earn a living wage in 42 states and the District of Columbia. That figure is over $16 in more than half of the country, comes to nearly $20 per hour in California, and is more than $20 in New York state.
* New York State’s minimum wage of $9 per hour provides only 44 percent of a living wage for a single adult and less than a quarter of the living wage for a single adult with two children.”
* Arkansas had the lowest hourly rate of any state, but at $14.58 per hour it was barely below the $15 per hour minimum proposed by Fight for 15.