THE CRISIS OF WORKING POVERTY

Federal poverty guidelines determine poverty in relationship to the percentage that a family spends on food per month. However, in California, the high cost of housing, childcare, health care and other basic needs requires a different criteria for determining poverty. According to the California Budget Project, a family with two children needs between $44,130 and $63,921 per year in order to attain a modest standard of living. In comparison, a full-time, minimum-wage worker in California earns $14,040 per year. Over 1.4 million Californians currently earn at or near the minimum wage; the majority are adults who work full-time.

Over the past 25 years, the percentage of Californians who are working and poor has continued to grow - and the income gap between the highest percentiles of workers and the lowest has continued to widen. As a result, families with a full-time worker currently comprise 53% of the recipients of the ten largest statewide programs that provide public assistance to low-income families. Of the 20.1 billion of public assistance received by California families in 2002, $10.1 billion went to working families. Public assistance is increasingly becoming an ongoing wage supplement for low-wage workers, rather than emergency assistance for those who are unable to work. This impacts more than just the families who are directly involved; taxpayers, a wide range of government services, the basic social and economic infrastructure of entire neighborhoods and ultimately the California economy are all affected by an impoverished work force.

The growing crisis of working poverty is not a consequence of corporate inability to pay higher wages. In 1970, the average U.S. CEO earned 30 times more than his lowest paid worker. In 2005, he earned 431 times more (Forbes magazine.) In Japan, in comparison, an average CEO earns 10 times more than his lowest paid worker. WalMart, the largest corporate retailer in the world, has a standard policy of teaching employees how to access public benefits.

The most effective strategy for holding corporations accountable to provide fair wages and benefits is an ongoing collaboration between workers and local communities. As communities become aware of the fundamental link between quality jobs and quality of life, they realize that they have a vital stake in the well-being of low-wage workers. The need of low-wage workers to earn a living wage and receive better benefits can easily be supported by people of differing political persuasions, making it possible to build broad coalitions with the power to impact public and corporate policy.

Faith leaders and congregations can play a unique and powerful role in these collaborative efforts. They have historically brought a number of vital contributions to social movements, both progressive and conservative. Collectively they form a powerful arsenal that can advance the cause of economic and social justice.