State of Working America
Rooted in Racism
Child care costs
Medicaid cuts
Strong wage growth for low-wage workers bucks the historic trend

Between 2019 and 2024, there has been a notable reversal of long-term trends in wage growth. Low-wage workers experienced historically fast real wage growth (adjusted for inflation) and the strongest wage growth compared with workers at all other parts in the wage distribution.

Nevertheless, because pay at the bottom of the distribution started at such a low point in 2019, low-wage workers today continue to suffer from wages that are grossly inadequate to sustain families, and significant wage gaps exist at all points in the distribution across demographic groups. Read more

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Domestic workers’ pay and working conditions in the South reflect racist, gendered notions of care

Domestic workers are the 2.3 million workers nationwide who provide vital support to our elders and chronically ill or disabled family members, care for our children, and help maintain our households.

Despite their vital role in supporting American families and the economy, domestic workers are underpaid and unprotected, particularly in the South, where nearly one-third of the country’s domestic workers live.

Lawmakers should adopt Domestic Worker Bill of Rights legislation; amend state laws to allow domestic workers to form unions; and eliminate harmful state preemption of local labor ordinances that improve upon state law. Read more

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Updated tool calculates the cost of child care in every state

Child care more expensive than rent? Child care more expensive than public college tuition? That’s the case in most states. 

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, child care is affordable if it costs no more than 7% of a family’s income. This isn’t inevitable—it is a policy choice. Federal and state policymakers can and should act to make child care more affordable, and ensure that child care workers can afford the same quality of care for their own children. Calculate child care costs in your state

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Cutting Medicaid to pay for low taxes on the rich is a terrible trade for American families

Low taxes for the rich and for corporations is the highest legislative priority of the Trump administration and congressional Republicans. To get there, they are willing to cut federal programs that are vital to the incomes and security of American families.

These cuts will not just cause harm to individual families. They will cascade, leading to hospital closures, higher medical debt, lower earnings, poorer health outcomes.

Nothing about this policy package—tax cuts mostly for the rich and benefit cuts for the vulnerable—is good for the vast majority of families in this country. Read more

 

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