Here are some more recent data:
In 2017, the official poverty rate in Tacoma was 17%, not much changed from 2014. And according to the City of Tacoma’s 2016 Community Needs Assessment Report, 26% of Tacoma’s children still live in poverty.
The Northwest Harvest Report gives us these shocking facts:
- Each month 39% of the 110,000 people who need help finding food in Pierce County are children (EFN)
- 63% of Tacoma School District children are eligible for free and reduced-priced meals.
These figures demonstrate that the small increase that the City of Tacoma and the Chamber of Commerce grudgingly conceded to Tacoma’s low-wage workers in 2015, almost 4 years ago, were entirely inadequate. Their so-called reform failed to address Tacoma’s rampant problems of poverty or child hunger, let alone making even the smallest dent in the level of destitution here.
In fact, even a wage that’s twice the US Government’s official poverty rate does not enable a Tacoma worker to earn a modest living wage. The 2019 US Government official definition of a poverty income amounts to just $12,490 for one person, $16,910 for two people, and $21,330 for three people.
This means that a full-time worker who earns the princely sum of $7.25/hr US minimum wage makes too much money to be considered poor. The American minimum wage comes to an annual income of just $15,080, or $7.25 per hour. To the US Government bean counters, workers earning the US minimum wage ain’t poor!
But what if you earn Tacoma’s much higher minimum wage in 2019? Then, instead of $15,080/year, your annual income is $25,688. That’s substantially above the US minimum wage, let alone the official US poverty rate. Therefore, can we say that Tacoma’s minimum wage is a living wage?
A living wage would give a worker enough to meet basic living expenses without extra assistance, such as welfare assistance, or working 2 or 3 extra jobs. So does Tacoma’s minimum wage pass muster? Or is it just a somewhat more generous poverty wage?
The highly-regarded Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in Washington DC has extensively studied this question for the Tacoma Metropolitan area, as well as many other parts of our country. They put together an on-line Family Budget Calculator, which you can see here. This calculator shows various family sizes for Tacoma and what a worker needs to earn in order to attain a modest, yet adequate standard of living. Go ahead and check it out, play with it a bit.
Here is what EPI’s Family Budget Calculator says you need to meet the most basic living expenses in Tacoma today. Please bear in mind that their figures are for a modest budget, as you can see if you visit that link.
- In the Tacoma Metropolitan area, a single adult with no children needs a monthly income of $3,009, which comes to an annual total of $36,112. In terms of hourly pay, that comes to $17.36/hour.
- A single mother with one child would need a monthly income of $5,039, which comes to an annual total of $60,468. A large part of Tacoma’s working class consists of single women with one or more dependent children.
- And a family with 2 adults and 2 children would need a monthly income of $6,977, which comes to an annual total of $83,727.
A substantial number of Tacoma’s workers make less than a living wage. The percentage of Tacoma workers in this pickle is hard to find. But a 2015 Fortune Magazine article reports that 42% of American workers earn less than $15/hour. The percentage in Tacoma can’t be that much different today. Moreover, some 46.3% of these low-wage workers are 35 and older, and a large percentage are women and minorities.
When people can’t earn enough to meet basic living expenses, they find other resources, often community social services. That means the welfare system subsidizes labor costs for profitable enterprises who choose to pay substandard wages.
Raising Tacoma’s minimum wage to $15/hr is a step towards remedying this situation. It would put more disposable income into the pockets of a sizable percentage of Tacoma’s working class, who would spend it locally on clothing, groceries, entertainment, etc. This would be a boost to the local economy.
Let’s make Tacoma’s minimum wage a living wage. Here is an article describing some of what we must do to win. Let’s start by raising it to $15/hr.
