Hardships in America: The Real Story of Working Families

Description

Across the country, millions of full-time, full-year workers are unable to draw a paycheck large enough to afford their families' most basic needs. Yet the antiquated federal poverty measurement is inadequate to reflect this reality. Hardships in America: The Real Story of Working Families establishes a "basic family budget" - the amount of income a family requires to afford a safe and decent standard of living - for families in every community nationwide. It then examines the hardships faced by families that fail to reach these budget levels and finds that decent food, safe housing, and access to adequate health and child care frequently elude them. These problems exist on such a large scale that they require universal solutions that go beyond boosting incomes to include universal health coverage and child care, as well as other supports for working families.