San Jose Mercury News (CA)

MINIMUM WAGE CAN'T CUT IT FOR SINGLE PARENTS, REPORT SAYS

November 21, 2000
Section: California News
Edition: Morning Final
Page: 19A
JENNIFER COLEMAN, Associated Press
Memo: CALIFORNIA'S WORKING POOR

Illustration: Photo, Chart

Caption: PHOTO: RICH PEDRONCELLI -- ASSOCIATED PRESS
Leilani Luia of Alameda is a single mother to her daughter Mauray, 5. Luia and several other mothers hope for increased aid to the working poor.
[001121 CA 19A]

Chart: CHART: MERCURY NEWS
WHAT IT TAKES TO SUPPORT A FAMILY IN VARIOUS COUNTIES
A report by Californians for Family Economic Self-Sufficiency looked at how much it costs in each county for child care, housing, health care and other essentials. Here's what researchers say is the minimum hourly wage needed to support a family of one adult and two children in selected counties:
COUNTY MINIMUM WAGE
Alameda $20.57
Alpine $14.45
Amador $15.17
Butte $13.47
Calaveras $14.77
Colusa $13.21
Contra Costa $20.63
Del Norte $14.11
El Dorado $15.69
Fresno $15.15
Glenn $13.21
Humboldt $14.15
Los Angeles $19.35
Monterey $17.84
Napa $18.42
Sacramento $16.41
San Benito $17.07
San Francisco $24.64
San Joaquin $14.87
San Luis Obispo $16.37
San Mateo $24.25
Santa Clara $25.55
Santa Cruz $21.75
Sonoma $20.12
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

The income of a single parent earning minimum wage falls far short of what's needed to be self-sufficient in California, according to areport released Monday.

Even those with jobs well above minimum wage are struggling to provide for their families, said researchers with Californians for Family Economic Self-Sufficiency. The report sets a ''self-sufficiency standard'' for each county, showing the minimum hourly wage needed to pay for the cost of living in California.

''What the standard tells us is that lower-wage jobs -- even though well above the minimum wage or the official poverty level -- simply do not provide enough for a family's needs, even at a minimally adequate level,'' said Diana Pearce, the report's author.

The self-sufficiency report recommends two strategies to close the gap between income levels and what's needed to make ends meet: Raise wages, and increase state aid for necessities such as child care and housing.

The report, Pearce said, looked county by county at the costs most families have to bear: health care, housing, transportation and child care.

For example, a single parent with two children in Sacramento needs to make about $34,000 a year to make ends meet. That's more than twice the federal poverty level of $14,000 a year for a family of three.

As expected, the highest hourly wage needed to support a family is in the Silicon Valley. A single parent with two children in Santa Clara County needs to earn $25.55 an hour, Pearce estimated.

Part of the problem is that lawmakers use the federal poverty guidelines when setting policy -- a guide that was established in the 1960s and isn't based on modern costs or situations, such as the increase in single-parent families, researchers said.

And too often, welfare case workers encourage aid recipients to take the first job offered to them, rather than complete their education or get training that will allow them to get higher-paying jobs, said Pearce.

That's not news to Domaniquie Toney from Los Angeles, or Leilani Luia of Oakland, two single mothers who spoke at the news conference announcing the report's release.

On welfare since she was 15, Toney, a 24-year-old mother of four, said she is trying to finish high school so she can get a job that pays more than her current position as an office clerk.

But case workers are pressuring her to take any job, regardless of the salary, instead of going to school, she said.

''I really think they need to stress education, but they put it on the back burner,'' she said.

Luia, 32, said education is helping her close the gap between living on welfare and working full time in a job that supports her family by herself. Luia, a mother of two, is attending college and plans to become a social worker.

''Women who have not gotten higher education, but have gone through the programs in the county, have ended up in low-wage jobs that do not allow mobility,'' she said. ''They end up staying in poverty and staying in jobs like housekeeping, low-end clerical work like filing and phone operator, and even fast food.''

The study's authors say lawmakers and Gov. Gray Davis should use the self-sufficiency standard as a guideline to expand programs that help the working poor in California.

They suggest additional state aid for child care, health care and tax relief -- especially for those going from welfare to the job market.

''A single dollar of support often multiplies itself in benefits to a family,'' Pearce said.

All archives are stored on a SAVE (tm) newspaper library system from MediaStream Inc., a Knight-Ridder Inc. company.