Low-Wage Work in Mississippi: Enhancing Opportunities for Families March 2017
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LOW-WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI: ENHANCING OPPORTUNITIES FOR FAMILIES MARCH 2017 REPORT PREPARED BY KATHLEEN J. FITZGERALD, PH.D., ON BEHALF OF THE JESUIT SOCIAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR OXFAM AMERICA TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………………………....1 INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………………3 CHART 1………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3 WHAT IS MISSISSIPPI DOING TO PROTECT LOW-WAGE WORKERS?..........................5 WHAT COULD MISSISSIPPI REALISTICALLY BE DOING TO SUPPORT THEIR LOW-WAGE WORKERS?................................................................................................8 TABLE 1……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..15 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….19 REFERENCES THIS REPORT MADE POSSIBLE BY A GENEROUS GRANT FROM OXFAM AMERICA LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 1 training, or volunteering a requirement for SNAP EXECUTIVE SUMMARY (food stamps) beneficiaries who are able-bodied and not caring for dependents and whose The purpose of this study is to understand the eligibility is running out. needs of low-wage workers in Mississippi, what Additional public policies are necessary to help the state is doing to address those needs, and meet the needs of low-wage workers in what additional policies and programs can be Mississippi. Expanding Medicaid will benefit implemented to address the myriad unmet needs employers because it will help workers stay of this vulnerable population. Mississippi is one of healthy, which allows them to be more reliable the poorest states in the country, with one of the employees. Implementing a state Earned Income lowest labor force participation rates; poverty, Tax Credit (EITC) and increasing the minimum unemployment, and underemployment wage are policies that put more money directly disproportionately affect racial minorities and into the hands of low-wage workers, which will women. ultimately boost the economy when these Mississippi ranks as the most dependent state; workers spend their increased income. state dependency refers to how much each state Another suggestion is that Mississippi take the receives back in federal dollars versus what they millions of dollars in unspent funds associated contribute to the federal treasury in taxes with their Child Development Block Grant and (Kiernan 2016). Mississippi gets $3.00 in federal TANF (Temporary Aid for Needy Families) and funds for every dollar it contributes to the federal spend it on child care assistance. This will allow government (Tierney 2014). Neighboring Alabama more low-wage women to enter the paid labor and Louisiana also rank high as dependent states. force. Currently, states spend only slightly more This is primarily due to the high poverty rates in than one-quarter of their combined federal and these states that result in them receiving a state TANF funds on basic assistance for families, disproportionate share of federal funds through 8% on work-related activities and support, and anti-poverty programs such as Temporary 16% on childcare (Schott, Pavetti, and Floyd Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and the 2015). These choices have weakened the safety Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program net for poor families nationwide. Additionally, (SNAP) (Tierney 2014). there has been significant erosion of TANF The State of Mississippi is focused on helping benefits in terms of purchasing power; due to residents find work. One of the primary inflation, the real value of TANF block grants has investments the state has made is the declined by 32.5% since the program was introduction of MS Works in 2015, a website for implemented in 1997 (Falk 2016; Stanley, Floyd, job seekers and employers. In addition to listing and Hill 2016). Cash assistance for 99% of open jobs and allowing people to apply directly recipients, the nation’s poorest families, has a through their website, the program is designed to purchasing power that is below 1996 levels help workers explore ways to increase their job (Stanley, Floyd, and Hill 2016). There have been market skills. Thus, an applicant can be directed no increases in federal TANF spending to adjust to a community college program where they can for inflation or increasing population size in two increase their skill set and marketability. This is decades; federal TANF spending has remained at designed to help the state address what they $16.5 billion for two decades (Vallas and Boteach perceive as a shortage of mid-skill level workers. 2015). Mississippi has also made employment, job LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 2 Mississippi can reform unemployment insurance even more dire for public sector unions: benefits eligibility requirements, such as allowing nationwide, 35.2% of public employees are eligibility for part-time workers and those who unionized compared to 9.4% in Mississippi. The quit a job for a legitimate reason, which will make state can support workers attempting to unionize more low-wage workers, especially women, at the Nissan plant in Canton, MS, and the eligible for benefits. Additionally, some research unionization of service workers through Unite finds that child support enforcement can help Here!, working to unionize casino workers in keep custodial parents off of welfare. The average Biloxi and Tunica. Additionally, the state could child support payment for custodial parents in support the Living Wage campaign at the Mississippi in 2015 was $1,000 per year, a University of Mississippi. distressingly low amount that needs to increase. Finally, Mississippi must be proactive in Mississippi’s child support enforcement policies reintegrating formerly incarcerated citizens into can be reformed to include subsidies for legal the labor market. Until recently, Mississippi had representation for low-income parents who need the second highest incarceration rate in the to return to court to adjust their court ordered country, thus, tens of thousands of residents are child support. constrained from employment by a felony record. The state needs to find a way to encourage Policies and program options include offering employers to commit to hiring fewer temporary more community based alternatives to juveniles workers, perhaps relying on higher education as a convicted of status offenses or adults convicted of model for creating balance between temporary non-violent drug crimes, removing state obstacles and permanent workers. In higher education, to employment licensure, funding reentry colleges and universities are relying more and programs, banning the question on an application more on temporary and part-time faculty that asks if the person has ever been convicted of members due to budgetary concerns. However, a felony, incentivizing the hiring of ex-offenders these institutions generally have established by offering tax breaks to employers, or guidelines as to what percentage of faculty can be establishing a state version of the federal bonding part-time or temporary. This not only protects program. from too much faculty exploitation, but it also While increasing the minimum wage, expanding helps maintain some faculty power within Medicaid, and establishing a state EITC would institutions. One way this can happen is to require legislative approval, spending unused increase the percentage of the state labor force TANF and child care block grant funds is strictly an that is unionized and to support living wage administrative shift which would not require campaigns. The more unionized workers in a convincing legislators to make the necessary state, the higher all workers’ wages; plus, it would changes. Strategies to help ex-offenders gain help decrease industry reliance on temporary employment vary in terms of implementation; workers. Unionization is particularly effective at some can be done administratively, some eroding the gender wage gap and the racial wage legislatively. But Mississippi has shown a gap, both of which contribute to disproportionate willingness to make some of these changes poverty rates among women and racial already by implementing criminal justice reform minorities. Additionally, unionization is effective in 2014 and by extending the MS Works program at narrowing the gender wage gap. Only 6.8% of to soon-to-be released state prisoners. Mississippi workers are currently unionized, compared to 11.1% nationwide. The situation is LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 3 LOW WAGE WORK IN MISSISSIPPI 4 overall poverty rates; 51st in terms of poverty INTRODUCTION rates among women, with 23.1% of Mississippi women falling below the poverty level, compared Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the to a national average of 13.4% for women; and nation, with high unemployment and the second 50th in child poverty rates, with 29% of Mississippi lowest labor force participation rate at 52.2% as children living below the poverty line of September 2016, trailing only West Virginia, (“Mississippi…” 2015). compared with the labor force participation rate Women’s disproportionate poverty rates are of the nation at large (62.8%), according to the partially explained by the gender wage gap, Bureau of Labor Statistics (“Civilian where women earn 83% of men’s wages Noninstitutional Population…” 2016). There is a nationally. The gender wage gap is also racialized; considerable racial gap and gender gap on all Black and Hispanic women earn 58% of white economic measures, with African Americans and male wages (Gould, Schieder, and Geier 2016). women faring much more poorly compared with Nationwide, two-thirds of low-wage workers are