Can a family of four live on minimum wage? Not even close.
A new study finds that no matter where they live in the United States, minimum wage workers earn far less than they need – to make ends meet.
The Economic Policy Institute compiled data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Federal Highway Administration, the Bureau of Labor statistics and several other sources,
EPI, the nonpartisan think tank, found that the average cost of living in the U.S., excluding discretionary spending, is more than $65,000 a year for a family with two adults and two children.
That’s roughly $50,000 more than what a minimum-wage worker earns.
The EPI also looked at the cost of living for single adults and found similar disparities.
The gap is even wider in some high-cost cities.
A household with two adults and two children in Washington, D.C., for example, would need to budget more than $106,000 a year to make ends meet, researchers found, making it the most expensive area in the country for a family that size, without taking into account discretionary spending.
The new data, which supports findings by other groups such as the National Low Income Housing Coalition and Pew Research Center, comes amid increased efforts to increase the minimum wage for workers across the country.
Los Angeles, California’s largest city, announced it would raise its minimum wage from $9 an hour to $15 by 2020.
The issue is likely to take center stage heading into the 2016 presidential race.
