The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released study findings this week regarding characteristics of low-wage workers and their use of federally funded social safety net programs.
Officials said the work stemmed from Department of Labor data detailing that private-sector employers have added millions of jobs to the economy since the end of the most recent recession in 2009. They acknowledged, however, that many are in low-wage occupations.
GAO officials said they determined the combination of low wages and few hours worked compounded the income disadvantage of low-wage workers and likely contributed to their potential eligibility for federal social safety net initiatives.
The work, GAO officials noted, involved analysis of data in the Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS), showing on average, low-wage workers worked fewer hours per week, were more highly concentrated in a few industries and occupations, and had lower educational attainment than workers earning hourly wages above $16 in each year GAO reviewed—1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2016.
As part of the study, GAO interviewed personnel with state and local social safety net programs and other experts in four metropolitan areas—Atlanta, San Francisco, Santa Fe, and Washington, D.C.—representing a range of local minimum wage levels relative to the federal minimum wage, costs of living and participation rates in five selected federally funded social safety net programs.
The study also revealed the extent of poverty varied considerably by the type of family in which a worker lived. As an example, single-parent families earning the federal minimum wage or below comprised a higher percentage of families in poverty. At the same time, married families with no children comprised the lowest percentage of families in poverty and generally had family incomes at or above the poverty line.