Employment Is Not Enough To Keep Many Mississippi Families Out Of Poverty

June 17th, 2011

Many families are working and still struggling financially to make ends meet. Similar to middle- and high-income families, many low-income families work hard and seek to balance responsibilities of work and family life. However, working poor and low-income families are more vulnerable to economic insecurity and have a harder time keeping up with the costs of housing, health care, child care, transportation, and other basic needs and are often hindered from saving for their own future and their children’s.

In Mississippi, the portion of working poor families rose this decade, according to the Working Poor Families Project. See Chart. In 2009, the percentage of working families living on an income below the Federal Poverty Level grew to 15.6 percent, equal to 51,265 families. The state’s portion of working families that are poor is significantly above the nation’s 9.5 percent.

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Mississippi’s working families continue to need quality employment opportunities with higher wages, so that those adults who work hard can also build long-term economic security for themselves and their children – the next generation of Mississippi’s workers and business owners. With the portion of working families living in poverty growing, the challenge facing the state is threefold:

To raise the number of job opportunities with quality wages;
To provide on-the-job training and postsecondary pathways for the current workforce to gain skills to attain higher wage employment, and;
To ensure a better future for all residents by raising revenue and strengthening investments that educate our children and create jobs.

Next week, Policy Matters takes a more in-depth look at factors that contribute to the number of families living on very low incomes.

Source:

Working Poor Families Project. Indicators and Data 2000-2010.

Author:

Sarah Welker, Policy Analyst