It’s the difference between a wage and a living wage. In New Jersey, many employers are fighting the minimum-wage hike. In Washington, Wal-Mart threatened to boycott the city if
it passed a law requiring big retailers pay a “living wage” — $12.50 an hour. Meanwhile, a Gallup poll found 19 percent of two-adult households struggled to buy food during the past year.
EPI research assistants Hilary Wething and Natalie Sabadish spoke with Star-Ledger editorial writer Jim Namiotka about the institute’s 2013 Family Budget Calculator, which estimates the cost of “getting by” across the United States.
Q: First, what’s your definition of “getting by”?
Wething: To determine “getting by,” we developed a measure of income that families need to secure a basic, yet modest, standard of living in their community. We looked at the costs of basic needs like housing, child care, food, transportation, taxes, etc.
This is not middle class. There’s no savings. This is, literally, how families are able to make ends meet from month to month. There’s no future or long-term financial stability in these budgets. These families are secure, but not saving for retirement or their kids’ college.
Sabadish: We aimed for the 40th percentile — above complete economic deprivation, which is what the federal poverty line measures, but definitely below middle class.
There’s no savings, no dining at restaurants, no fast food. This doesn’t include cable or internet. We aimed right between deprivation and a middle-class lifestyle.
