Human Services News

The Working Poor Families Project:

The Working Poor Families Project, a national initiative supported by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Joyce, and C.S. Mott Foundations, was launched in 2002 to examine the conditions of America’s working families. The project’s initial report, “Working Hard, Falling Short: America’s Working Families and the Pursuit of Economic Security,” found that more than one out of four American working families now earn wages so low that they have difficulty meeting their basic needs.

This follow-up report finds that the situation hasn’t improved and has in fact become worse. As shown in the table below, since the Working Poor Families Project’s last report in 2004, the conditions for working families in America have worsened; the number of low-income working families with children has increased by more than 350,000. This increase is alarming as it occurred at a time of solid national economic growth.

The fact is that one out of four working families with children—a total of 42 million people—are low-income. These families pay a higher percentage of their income for housing than those earning more, are far less likely to have health insurance, and often lack the education and skills required to succeed in today’s skills-driven economy.