On Father’s Day, Low Wages Hurting Single Dads

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/06/15/on-fathers-day-low-wages-hurting-single-dads/

by James Parks, Jun 15, 2008

On this Father’s Day, we’d like to wish all fathers a Happy Father’s Day. An official holiday to honor fathers was initially proposed in 1909 by the daughter of a widowed father. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, raised six children after his wife died in childbirth.



Today, when we think of single parents, we almost always think of single mothers. But families headed by single fathers are one of the fastest-growing groups in our country. While on average, single-father families are better off financially than single-mother families, many of them are stretching to make ends meet, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), which last week released these Fast Facts for Father’s Day.

Here are a few of the facts:

* Among people living in single-parent families headed by a working father, almost 28 percent are economically insecure. CEPR says economically insecure means their income falls below the “basic family budget”—a measure of the basic goods and services needed to make ends meet for where they live. By comparison, among people in all working families, about 17 percent are economically insecure.

* Public assistance, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, public health insurance (Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program) and food stamps, helps single fathers take care of their families. Before taking public assistance into account, 37.6 percent of people in single-father families are economically insecure.

* About one in four men work in low-wage jobs, which CEPR defines as one that pays less than $11.11 an hour. The typical man working in a low-wage job earned $8.64 an hour in 2005. While women are still more likely to work in low-wage jobs than men, the gap between men and women is narrowing. Regardless of gender, the typical low-wage worker today earns about the same per hour, after adjusting for inflation, as they did in 1979.

You can learn more about single-father families and economic insecurity here: http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/fast-facts-for-father-s-day:-lone-father-families-and-economic-insecurity/

[IndyOp]

1. Thank you Steve. We need to support ALL of our families with deep, structural

changes that lead to living wages, health care, quality day care and preschool for all children.

:hi: