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* The Tribune has a story about the high public cost of low wages…
According to the NPA study, 60 percent of the cost of public assistance in Illinois goes to families headed by someone who works. In addition, nearly 1 million people in Cook County live in poverty and either collect public assistance or qualify for it, the report shows. County taxpayers end up covering the cost of nearly $150 million in health care for the working poor. They pay millions more for child care and other expenses, Murray said. […]
For more than a decade, Ken Jacobs, chair of the Labor Center at the University of California at Berkeley, has been examining the number of fast-food workers dependent on food stamps, free day care programs and other subsidies. His report, released earlier this year, estimated that state and federal governments spend more than $150 billion a year on four anti-poverty programs mainly used by working people.
When workers don’t earn enough to support themselves or their families, the effects spill over to other parts of their lives, Jacobs said. Low-wage workers tend to suffer from more short-term and long-term health problems and rely on subsidized health care. Their children perform poorly in school, which sometimes steers them to a life of low-wage work.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 10:52 am
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The number should be $150 million not billion. Heads up.
Comment by Abe the Babe Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 10:56 am
Nevermind. There’s another 150 number that includes federal dollars and is in the billions.
Comment by Abe the Babe Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:03 am
Wages and benefits are the lifeblood of any local economy. Starve the body of blood and stuff starts to die or becomes non-functional. Starve people of wages and benefits and you starve a community/local economy. Said as I look around me in the ruins of East St. Louis Illinois. Anything that increases wages and benefits will help the whole.
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:08 am
Medicaid, SNAP, Section 8, et. al., are corporate welfare for the Wal-Marts and McDonald’s of the country.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:10 am
But Paul Ryan keeps promising me that Walton’s children and the other “Job Creators” will bestow their largesse any time now.
Comment by Jocko Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:14 am
This just illustrates perfectly how it’s all interconnected. People don’t live their lives by line items or funding streams. Partial piecemeal budgeting, and operating by court orders and consent decrees does not even begin to address the problems, and may end up being more wasteful and less effective over time the longer this mess goes on.
Comment by Pawn Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:15 am
There was a great piece in Rolling Stone 2-3 years ago that laid out the numbers of how much Walmart benefits from $ saved by not paying benefits and forcing people to “entitlements”
It was an eye opener. Easy to understand and funny when you listen to GOPies and whackjobs shriek about “reform” and raising the min. wage
Comment by Anonin' Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:15 am
Subsidizing the wealthy so they can create more low paying jobs has a term. Bush the first either said it it didn’t say it, depending on which video you watch.
Comment by Trolling troll Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:15 am
Maybe there should be a notice on every fast food bag that states:
“This cheap burger and fries is subsidized by your tax dollars because we pay workers low wages to keep our prices low and they have to receive government assistance.”
Comment by Norseman Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:19 am
==County taxpayers end up covering the cost of nearly $150 million in health care for the WORKING poor.==
Here’s a lesson in political power. The County Board could have taxed the businesses who use our public health care system as their insurance provider, but instead they hiked the sales tax. More scared of the Chamber of Commerce than their constituents.
Comment by Century Club Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:27 am
Norseman, more like, “Our profits are fatter because your taxes pay for this worker’s rent and healthcare.”
If they could pass all the costs directly to the consumer, they wouldn’t need to fight minimum wage increases. Hence, businesses tepidly oppose a sales tax hike, vigorously oppose minimum wage hike.
Comment by Century Club Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:33 am
Not a bargain anymore for anyone. Burgers and fries ain’t a bargain meal. And you subsidize their eating with big Medicaid and Medicare payments caused by poor diets. Plus the Walmart stuff is sourced in China that gets to burn all the coal we ship over to them while we think we are cleaning up our carbon emissions. When you add it all up, its down. The big box, super size blues. We got a lot of roads built to it. And they are going to ruin to. Hey, I got a franchise deal for you to get rich too. Join the country club.
Comment by vole Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:42 am
Word nailed it.
Comment by OutHereInTheMiddle Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:49 am
Well this the new reality. When will there be a study about all the churches/donors/charities that filled in the gap? I am sure that will take care of the problem.
Comment by Dr. X Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 11:49 am
Ironies abound. I think of human services and the difficulties with recruitment and retention of direct care employees. Because they can’t afford to pay higher wages, they lose some employees to better paying or easier jobs. Sometimes they lose employees (single parents in particular) because they are better off financially receiving benefits themselves rather than working. One school of thought would say that benefits are too generous if it leads to people choosing that over working. Another school of thought would say that we need to do better, not just for people with disabilities or other medical conditions, but for people who want to do the rewarding, hard work of serving them.
Comment by Earnest Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 12:23 pm
Low wages mean higher profits and dividends for the rich. Which pushes health care, child care, housing, etc. onto the government. Then a tax system that disproportionately benefits the rich to pay for government.
I wonder who’s behind all this stuff?
Comment by Sir Reel Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 12:34 pm
The problem is much, much worse. This article does not take into account the nation’s looming retirement crisis. If you don’t have a pension - or are not saving significantly for retirement (think $1 million)in your 401K, you are really working poor. Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are both tapping into this angst in their (special) own ways.
Comment by Grayson Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 12:52 pm
“free day care programs ”
That’s not going away as an issue by raising wages to $15/hour. You’re still talking about half or more of take home pay going to full time childcare for one kid. That’s not feasible without assistance.
Comment by Chris Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 2:10 pm
I see this every day. My kid works what counts as ‘full time’ these days in the food industry (not fast food) but doesn’t get that much more than minimum wage. Their family (spouse and kids) qualify for a lot of the assistance. The health insurance through their work is so high with high deductibles they are better off staying on the Medicaid programs everyone qualifies for.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 2:43 pm
Looks like the Trib is repeating what Bernie Sanders has been saying, without offering Bernie’s solutions
Comment by Chicago 20 Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 3:10 pm
RNUG it’s difficult to see folks like your kid working hard and only treading water. Those are some of the hardest ones I deal with as a caseworker. It get’s really rough when they get a small promotion and wage increase and it kicks them entirely out of any kind of benefit. I don’t think people really realize how tough it is for young families right now. May he be blessed.
Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 4:44 pm
Employers started dropping health insurance in the 80s. I worked at IDPA/IDHS. I still believe we can alleviate poverty by increasing the minimum wage, provide national health insurance and provide child care assistance. We’re not quite there yet.
Comment by Emily Booth Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 5:31 pm
Question to all: if minimum wage is raised to $15/hr, will Medicaid, SNAP, sec 8, etc…Be eliminated?
Comment by Blue dog dem Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 5:56 pm
Blue Dog Dem -
Eliminated no, greatly reduced yes.
Comment by Chicago 20 Tuesday, Jan 5, 16 @ 6:53 pm