A story from WSB in Atlanta caught my eye the other day as I thought it must be a misprint. In the state of Georgia, it requires nearly $100,000 for a single person to live comfortably according to a brand new survey. For a family of two working adults raising two children, that number jumps to a staggering $212,826 per year. Wow.
Before you blow off the numbers as “fake news”, here’s how they arrived at the results. Smart Asset compiled the data by using the 50/30/20 rule which recommends that 50% of your family budget goes toward basic needs like housing and food, 30% on wants, and 20% towards paying off debt. As core elements of everyday life such as housing, food, transportation, and childcare continue to go up, the result has been that a shocking amount of money is now required to live comfortably in the United States.
The larger concern is that the macro employment status of the US economy is woefully behind these numbers. In fact, if you parse the employment data that comes from the Federal Reserve, the vast number of new jobs added to the economy are part-time positions, not full-time jobs. The number of full-time jobs added to the economy has technically gone down since the pandemic thanks to higher interest rates and efficiencies created by artificial intelligence. In fact, just last week the total number of US jobs added to the economy between March of 2023 and March of 2024 was revised downward by 818,000 jobs. It was the largest revision since 2009 and the second-largest downward revision ever.
While unemployment is historically low, it appears that the job growth is coming from part-time and full-time workers simply working additional part-time jobs to make ends meet. Meanwhile, the median wage growth in blue-collar jobs has been negligible at best.
Many of you probably know someone who had to make a job change or was forced to do extra work to keep up with rising prices. Maybe you are that person. This new economic reality has forced many of us to decrease consumption or find creative ways to increase our income. Sadly, this may be the new norm for the foreseeable future.
The Everyday American working as a waiter at your favorite restaurant or a cashier at your local superstore has been financially decimated by this economy. While you and I may have the margin to cut back in some areas or work extra hours to earn additional income, the Everyday Americans who fall into the ALICE category do not.
The single mom with three kids who were barely hanging on before the post-pandemic economy can’t work more hours but also can’t feed fewer kids. ALICE families like these were barely hanging onto lower Middle-Class status before the post-pandemic economy decimated their family finances. Sadly, now many of these people have slipped into poverty. The result is that the Brookdale Resource Center is seeing more families enter their doors than ever before. The number is so significant that we held a Back-To-School drive to ensure that every child at Brookdale had the resources they need to thrive in the classroom. Brookdale serves as a stop-gap for families on the edge of experiencing homelessness to get back on their feet. The 90-day housing program offered by Brookdale has been the “break” that countless families have needed to prevent being homeless.
When you give to United Way, you help us support ALICE families through the Brookdale Resource Center and all across our community. More importantly, you are helping us fulfill our bold goal of pulling 15,000 Everyday American ALICE families away from the edge of poverty and onto solid financial footing. I hope you will join us.
With heartfelt gratitude,
George McCanless
President & CEO
United Way or Central Georgia
