Though wages for the lowest paid jobs have risen across the country at the fastest rate in four decades, the number of households struggling to get by in Washington grew by nearly 33,000 from 2021 to 2022.
As a result, a total of 1,059,901 households — or 35% — were living paycheck to paycheck, according to a new update from United Ways of the Pacific Northwest and its research partner United For ALICE.
United For ALICE is a U.S. research organization driving innovation, research and action to improve life across the country for asset-limited, income-constrained, employed (ALICE) persons, according to a news release.
“Through the development of the ALICE measurements, a comprehensive, unbiased picture of financial hardship has emerged. Harnessing this data and research on the mismatch between low-paying jobs and the cost of survival, ALICE partners convene, advocate and collaborate on solutions that promote financial stability at local, state and national levels,” the organization said in a news release.
The recent calculations of struggling households in Washington included 312,012 Washington households in poverty as well as another 747,889 defined as ALICE, earning above the federal poverty level but less than what’s needed to survive in the current economy.
“ALICE workers include child care providers, home health aides and cashiers — those working low-wage jobs, with little or no savings and one emergency from poverty,” the organization said in a news release.
United for ALICE’s newest report, “ALICE in the Crosscurrents: An Update on Financial Hardship in Washington,” shows that while wages were increasing, so, too, were costs.
For a family of four with an infant and a preschooler, the basic costs to live and work in Washington, excluding tax credits, rose from $92,532 in 2021 to $95,244 a year later. Compounding the issue in 2022 was the loss of up to $15,000 in federal child tax credits and stimulus payments that this family had access to in 2021.
“The pandemic remains an ongoing challenge for ALICE families. As the stimulus packages and enhanced tax credits expire, our neighbors are essentially being forced back to budgets similar to the post-Great Recession era, limiting their ability to succeed. We must move beyond survival and talk about what stability means for these families,” said United Ways of the Pacific Northwest President and CEO Jim Cooper.
The findings in this one-year period are consistent with a more than decade-long trend: Since the end of the Great Recession, despite some ups and downs, the number of ALICE households in Washington has been consistently growing.
From 2010 to 2022, the total number of households rose by 18%, households in poverty increased by 1% — and the number of ALICE households increased by a substantial 44%, according to a news release.
“The data is showing persistent and widespread financial hardship — a red flag that the current system isn't working for ALICE,” said United For ALICE National Director Stephanie Hoopes, Ph.D. “Current policy has not been enough to break down the barriers that trap ALICE households in financial hardship, from lack of access to housing and child care that’s affordable, to inadequate community supports such as broadband internet."
Additional insights from the report include:
• From 2010 to 2022, people ages 65 and over made up the fastest-growing age group in Washington — and the group with the largest increase (52%) in the number of households struggling to make ends meet.
• Racial disparities persisted in the rates of financial hardship, with 49% of Black and 46% of Hispanic households in Washington either in poverty or ALICE in 2022, compared to 33% of white households.
• Food assistance continued to elude many vulnerable families in Washington. Partly due to the SNAP income eligibility level in the state (200% of the Federal Poverty Level), only 43% of all Washington households in poverty and 19% of all ALICE households participated in SNAP in 2022.
To read the update and access online, interactive dashboards that provide data on financial hardship at the state, county and local levels, visit UnitedforALICE.org/Washington.
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