Government spends $152.8 billion a year supporting workers who are paid so little they're still poor

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The government spends $152.8 billion a year supporting workers who are paid so little they're still poor

Myles Udland

Apr. 13, 2015, 8:09 AM 1,672 17

American workers still need help from the government to make ends meet.

According to a new study from researchers at the University of California-Berkeley, the government spends $152.8 billion a year to support working families.

In a research brief released Monday, Ken Jacobs, Ian Perry, and Jenifer MacGillvary find that 73% of enrollees in public support programs — such as food stamps — are members of working families, which the study defines as families with at least one member working 27 or more weeks per year and 10 hours or more per week.

The researchers blame low wages for this need, writing: "Real hourly wages of the median American worker were just 5% higher in 2013 than they were in 1979, while the wages of the bottom decile of earners were 5% lower in 2013 than in 1979. Trends since the early 2000s are even more pronounced. Inflation-adjusted wage growth from 2003 to 2013 was either flat or negative for the entire bottom 70% of the wage distribution.""

More (lots of important info):
http://www.businessinsider.com/uc-berkeley-labor-study-high-public-cost-of-low-wages-2015-4