Working Families Need Good Jobs – Not Just Any Job

Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its January jobs report, showing that 257,000 jobs were added last month. Increasing jobs is great news, but only if those jobs allow workers and their families to make ends meet. The numbers have been praised, especially the average hourly wages that “soared 12 cents” to $24.75. While wages didContinue reading “Working Families Need Good Jobs – Not Just Any Job”

Voter Support Spreading Nationwide for Higher Minimum Wage

Workers deserve to earn enough to support themselves and their families. This concept has helped guide the work of the Alliance for a Just Society for years. And, in the recent midterm elections, voters in five states and two cities showed that this is an issue that is important to people of all backgrounds, inContinue reading “Voter Support Spreading Nationwide for Higher Minimum Wage”

Report: America’s Families Are Out of Balance

Media Advisory Alliance for a Just Society September 29, 2014 Contact: Kathy Mulady kathy@allianceforajustsociety.org (206) 992-8787 America’s Families Are Out of Balance “The basic bargain of America is that no matter who you are, where you come from or what you look like, if you work hard & play by the rules, you can makeContinue reading “Report: America’s Families Are Out of Balance”

Job Gap: Working Families Struggling, Sliding Deeper into Debt

Debt – it’s become so entrenched in our daily lives that it’s almost a given. Debt is often a choice for higher income families, as an investment in the form of a mortgage or as a means to help pay for college. However, lower-income households often end up in debt because their incomes leave themContinue reading “Job Gap: Working Families Struggling, Sliding Deeper into Debt”

Fair Wages Aren’t Enough, Workers Need Hours, Predictability, too

There’s no question that working families across the country are struggling to get by; wages for most income levels have been stagnant or declining over the past decade, while the cost of living has continued to increase. One key to helping working families is increasing wages so that there are more living wage jobs available.Continue reading “Fair Wages Aren’t Enough, Workers Need Hours, Predictability, too”

Everyone Benefits When Workers Earn Living Wages

The South Korea government is taking an interesting approach to stagnating wages. The South Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance is pushing a policy to offer tax credits to those firms that increase worker pay. This legislation — which, if approved by the South Korean parliament, would go into effect in January — creates a policy incentive forContinue reading “Everyone Benefits When Workers Earn Living Wages”

Living Wage: A New Battle in the War on Poverty

Fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson announced a War on Poverty in America, more than 46.5 million people in our country, about one out of every seven, still struggle to get enough to eat or have a place to live. The U.S. Census Bureau shows that for people of color, the poverty rate is evenContinue reading “Living Wage: A New Battle in the War on Poverty”