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Working America

12.27.2008

Morgan Spurlock’s television show, 30 Days, wrapped up its third, and unfortunately it looks like, final season on the FX channel in November. I recently watched the series debut from 2005 on the minimum wage, which documented Spurlock’s experience with his fiance as low-wage workers in Columbus, Ohio.

It’s difficult to say anything meaningful about another person’s experience after walking only 30 days in his or her shoes. But Spurlock never portrayed himself as an expert. Nor did he use the experiences documented in the show as evidence for or against any particular policy or viewpoint. Unlike some other documentary filmmakers–as well as some academics and politicians for that matter–Spurlock didn’t use 30 Days to suggest that such a limited amount of perspective on an issue was sufficient for reaching conclusions about how to solve it.

Spurlock used 30 Days to provide information that could start discussions, not end them.

So, to commemorate the untimely passing of 30 Days, here are some random facts and figures about the minimum wage and low-wage work in the United States:

The minimum wage for covered nonexempt workers is currently $6.55 per hour. It will be $7.25 per hour on July 24, 2009. (FLSA)

Ten states (plus Washington DC) have adopted minimum wages of more than $7.25 per hour, including Washington, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Vermont, Connecticut, New Mexico, Michigan, and Rhode Island. (Poverty in America)

Using very conservative estimates for cost of living, the folks at Poverty in America have calculated the living wage for one adult to range from $6.44 per hour in South Dakota to $11.92 per hour in Washington DC. For families with one adult and one child, it ranges from $13.15 per hour in South Dakota to $21.00 per hour in Massachusetts. For families with two adults and two children, it ranges from $22.46 in South Dakota to $33.29 in Massachusetts. Total income needed, not each parent. (Living Wage Calculator)

As of May 2007, one out of ten jobs in 38 states (plus DC) paid less than a living wage for one adult. Combined, that’s 11.9 million jobs paying less than what’s required to make ends meet, for only one person. For some perspective, the entire Texas workforce numbers 10.7 million. (BLS data)

There were only seven states, plus Washington DC, where the median wage (one-half of jobs pay less, one-half pay more) could support families with one adult and one child in May 2007. Those states included Colorado, Michigan, Illinois, Wyoming, Minnesota, Washington, and Alaska. Put another way, that’s 57.6 million jobs, or 43% of all jobs in the United States.

There were only three states, plus Washington DC, where more than one out of four jobs in May 2007 paid enough to support families with two adults and two children: Illinois, Washington, and Alaska. In other words, for married-couple families with one parent working and most single-parent families, 98.4 million jobs, or 73% of all U.S. jobs, couldn’t support two children.

Understanding work in America requires much more than a strong opinion about the minimum wage, which is nearly impossible to separate from political ideology. When only 27% of all U.S. jobs pay enough to support a family with two children without a second income, we have larger issues to discuss.

One Response to “Working America”

1. bizdirector says:

   January 13, 2009 at 9:24 pm

   That we do.

   I enjoyed the episodes of Spurlock’s show that I caught. I happened to miss this one, and plan on watching it online @ Hulu.

   If less than three out of 10 jobs pay a liveable wage, is it any surprise that we find ourselves in the economic straits we’re in, with credit drying up? Our economy has been propped up by credit card debt for the last 30+ years, fueled by real wage stagnation.

   David Cay Johnston, in his book, "Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich – and Cheat Everyone Else," in which he talks about the hollowing out of the middle-class since about 1970. Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard lawyer, now tasked to monitor the Treasury’s spending of the bailout money (mostly sent to already rich bankers), has, has been an advocate for the middle-class, detailing the financial Hobson’s Choice that most in that class have been handed by our benevolent overseers in Washington.

   Here’s an article she wrote last fall about bankruptcies, the middle-class, and the people who preyed upon their plight (the very same folks now getting the majority of the bailout cashish), offering them easy credit.

   http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2008/sep/22/nation/chi-oped0922familysep22

   Your post raises an important issue about what constitutes real economic growth, and the role that govt. (not the greed of the free market) has in creating an economy that empowers the middle-class again.

   I know, I sound like a socialist, don’t I. I’ll own the moniker if that’s what it takes to create an economy that truly "lifts all boats," not just those at the very top.