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Low-Income Workers and Their Employers Characteristics and Challenges

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Low-Income Workers and Their Employers Characteristics and Challenges Low-Income Workers and Their Employers Characteristics and Challenges GREGORY ACS AND AUSTIN NICHOLS THE URBAN INSTITUTE Copyright © 2007. The Urban Institute. All rights reserved. Except for short quotes, no part of this report may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy- ing, recording, or by information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the Urban Institute. This paper was prepared for the May 23, 2007, Urban Institute Roundtable “Public and Private Roles in the Workplace: What Are the Next Steps in Supporting Working Families?” The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization established in Washington, D.C., in 1968. Its staff investigates the social, economic, and governance problems confronting the nation and evaluates the public and private means to alleviate them. Views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute, its trustees, or its funders. Contents Introduction 2 Characteristics of Low-Wage Workers in Low-Income Families 3 Where Do Low-Income Workers Work? 6 Implications for Interventions 8 Conclusions 11 Notes 13 References 14 iii Low-Income Workers and Their Employers Characteristics and Challenges his paper documents the characteristics of low-wage workers and their employers and discusses the implications of these characteristics for public programs and Tpolicies. Using nationally representative data from the 2004 Annual Demographic Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS), we focus on low-wage workers who reside in low-income families and support children. Key findings include the following: Ⅲ About one in four workers, age 18 to 61, earned less than $7.73 an hour in 2003. This wage rate is 50 percent above the federal minimum wage and about half the wage rate of the average worker. Ⅲ Less than half of these low-wage workers live in low-income families (family incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level). About one in twenty workers are low wage and living in low-income families with children. Note that some workers may earn more than $7.73 an hour but still be in families considered low income, depending on their family size, wage rate, and hours worked, though this paper focuses on those who are both low wage and low income. Ⅲ Low-wage, low-income workers with children have relatively low levels of education. Only 30 percent of low-wage, low-income workers with children have some educa- tion beyond high school. This is lower than the share of all low-wage workers (46 per- cent) and well below that share of all workers, 60 percent of whom have some postsecondary education. Ⅲ Low-wage, low-income workers with children are disproportionately likely to be younger, Hispanic, live in one-parent families, and report being in fair or poor health compared with the average worker. Ⅲ Low-wage workers are far less likely to work full time and year round than other workers (70 percent of all workers versus 50 percent of low-wage workers). However, among low-wage workers, those in low-income families with children are just as likely to work full time, full year as the typical low-wage worker. Ⅲ Two-fifths of low-wage workers and over one-third of low-wage, low-income work- ers with children work in very small firms, those with fewer than 10 employees. This is far higher than the 20 percent of all workers that are employed in small firms. 1 Ⅲ Low-wage workers, regardless of their income level or whether they live with chil- dren, are employed in industries with lower average wages than the typical worker. The industry average wage for low-wage workers is about $15 an hour, compared with $18 an hour for typical workers. Many policies targeted at low-wage workers are not well targeted at workers in low- income families with children, in part because they are a small subset of the low-wage workforce. Nevertheless, policies targeted at low-wage workers may have broad bene- fits, including improving the lot of low-income families with children. Although a range of policy options is available to improve the status of low-wage workers, establishing an appropriate mix of options that target workers and their wages (e.g., an increased min- imum wage), the incomes of low-income families with children (e.g., increased subsi- dies for child care), or make longer-term investments that may benefit both down the road (e.g., expanded job training programs) is required. Introduction The phrase “low-wage workforce” conjures an image of men and women struggling to support their families, toiling away at menial jobs for bosses who consider them expend- able. To address the problem of “low-wage jobs,” advocates have called for the public sector to expand work-support programs, such as earned income tax credits, wage sub- sidies, and training programs, and to impose mandates to raise worker pay through minimum wage increases, provide benefits like health insurance and paid time off, and protect jobs (trade barriers, immigration restrictions).1 In addition, some private-sector employers have implemented practices offering workers more flexibility in scheduling and time off because these employers find that these practices improve productivity and reduce the costs associated with high staff turnover.2 This paper provides a solid empirical foundation for these discussions by defining and documenting the characteristics of low-wage workers and their employers. In par- ticular, we focus on low-wage workers who reside in low-income families and support children. We use nationally representative data from the 2004 Annual Demographic Supplement to the Current Population Survey for our analysis. We find that low-wage workers who reside in low-income families with children are substantially less educated and concentrated in industries with low wages and poor prospects for wage growth. Many policies targeted at low-wage workers are not well targeted at workers in low-income families with children, in part because they are a small subset of the low-wage workforce. Nevertheless, policies targeted at low-wage workers may have broad benefits, including improving the lot of low-income families with children. Further, other policies, such as child care policies, can address the needs of low-income families with children, and some policies, such as improving career- focused education, may have long-term benefits at relatively low cost. 2 Low-Income Workers and Their Employers Characteristics of Low-Wage Workers in Low-Income Families Before examining the characteristics of low-wage workers, their families, and their employers, we need to define our terms. We set the wage threshold for low-wage work- ers at 150 percent of the federal minimum wage3—thus, any worker earning less than $7.73 an hour is considered a low-wage worker. This hourly wage threshold is also about 50 percent of the median wage.4 Wage rates are computed annually by dividing annual earnings by annual hours worked during the calendar year.5 We consider a worker to be in a low-income family if the family’s income falls below 200 percent of the federal poverty level (about $38,000 a year for a family of four).6 Those who work 35 hours or more a week are considered full-time workers, and those who work 50 or more weeks in the year, full-year workers. We focus on non-farm, non-self-employed workers between age 19 and 62, and our data reflect the population from calendar year 2003; all monetary values are in 2003 dollars.7 Ⅲ About one in four workers earn less than $7.73 an hour, but less than half these workers live in low-income families. About one in twenty workers are low wage and living in low-income families with children (figure 1). Overall, 22.8 percent of all workers earn less than $7.73 an hour and 10.8 percent not only have low wages but also live in families whose incomes fall below 200 percent of the Figure 1. Distribution of Low-Wage Workers Low-wage workers (22.8% of all workers) Workers earning more than $7.73 (77.2% of workers) 12% 5.5% 5.3% Low-wage Low-wage workers in low- workers in low- Low-wage workers not in low- income families income families income families (52.6% of without children with children low-wage workers) (24.1% of low- (23.2% of low- wage workers) wage workers) Low-income, low-wage workers (10.8% of all workers) Low-Income Workers and Their Employers 3 poverty level. And of all low-wage workers in low-income families, about half live with children. Thus, about a quarter of workers are low wage by our definition and only a quarter of these workers (5.3 percent overall) live in low-income families with children. Ⅲ Low-wage workers differ in many ways from average workers, and those low-wage workers in low-income families, particularly those with children, are a special sub- set of workers (table 1). Education. Earnings are linked to education; thus, it is not surprising that although 60 percent of workers have some education beyond high school, only 46 per- cent of low-income workers do. Further, only 30 percent of low-wage workers in low- income families with children have more than a high school degree, and a third do not even have a high school degree. This suggests that school retention and training programs could benefit low-income workers and their families. Age. Low-wage workers are more likely to be young (between age 18 and 29) than the average worker (39 versus 27 percent).
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