FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 18, 2014
Contact: Kathy Mulady,
Communications director
(206) 992-8787
Groundbreaking Report Reveals Evidence of Economic Racism
Study: Just Half of Full-Time Workers of Color Earn Enough to Make Ends Meet
SEATTLE — Throughout our nation’s history, women and people of color have faced an uneven playing field. That lack of equity continues with a disproportionate share of women and people of color earning less than the living wage.
“Equity in the Balance,” the second report in the Alliance for a Just Society’s Job Gap Economic Prosperity Series, was released today. It finds that a staggering percentage of full-time workers aren’t making ends meet and can’t support a family. The vast majority of women and people of color working full-time do not earn enough to support a family.
“A system that unjustly and persistently leaves people of color over-represented in low-wage work is economic racism,” said LeeAnn Hall, executive director of the Alliance for a Just Society. “Policies that keep women over-represented among low-wage workers is gender discrimination.
Dr. Dorian Warren, associate professor of political science at Columbia University, calls the report “groundbreaking.”
“No one in the country is talking about economic racism – and here, in this report, are the numbers that clearly illustrate its existence and its impact,” Warren said. “When people talk about poverty, race has disappeared from the conversation. The economy and race have become uncoupled in our country.”
We find that, nationally, only 61 percent of all full-time workers earn a wage that allows a single adult to make ends meet. Only 57 percent of women, and just 52 percent of people of color earn $15 per hour or more, and just 42 percent of Latino workers earn enough to make ends meet. Among non-citizen workers, only 38 percent earn more than $15 per hour.
Download the full report at http://thejobgap.org.
Alliance spokespersons are available for interviews.