Conservatives routinely claim that US poverty figures are misleadingly inflated, but a new report from EPI--Hardships in America: The Real Story of Working Families--shows just the opposite, with millions of officially non-poor families living lives of fundamental deprivation. Fully 29% of working families in the US with 1-3 children under 12 don't earn enough income to afford basic necessities like food, housing, health care, and child care, even during a period of national prosperity. Even so-called "living wage" levels are inadequate, figures show.
HARDSHIP July 24, 2001
Economic Policy Institute
PRESS RELEASE
One In Three Families With Young Children Can't Afford Basics Like Food, Housing, And Health Care
Washington D.C.
www.epinet.org/books/hardships.pdf
Original: EPI Report Finds Nearly 1 In 3 Families With Young Children Can't Afford Basics