One in 10 Connecticut households is beneath the 2012 federal poverty level, but that measure is well inadequate, according to a new report by the Connecticut United Ways and Rutgers University.
In reality, the report says, more than one in three struggles to afford the necessities of housing, child care, food, health care and transportation.
So while 141,628 households were beneath the official poverty line in 2012, another 332,817 fell beneath what the United Way calls the ALICE threshold, which stands for “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.”
Hartford has 43,345 ALICE and impoverished households, which is the highest proportion of total households, at 69 percent.
The consequences for the ALICE households are that they often forego preventative health care, accredited child care, healthy eating, and even car insurance, the report said. And they often have higher borrowing costs to purchase vehicles or take loans, and their children can place a higher burden on school districts because they are unprepared.
The ultimate result is higher costs for everyone in the state, as well as reduced productivity.
Accounting for income levels, social security and assistance from government and nonprofits, impoverished and ALICE households would need an additional $2.6 billion to get to a self-sufficient level, the report said. The state also lacks sufficient affordable housing, the report said.
United Way calculated a household survival budget for a single adult in Connecticut at $21,944, while a family of four needs $64,689. Those amounts are well above the federal poverty levels of $11,170 and $23,050. Households would need to earn nearly double the survival budget to be self sufficient, United Way said.
And while the cost of living rose 13 percent from 2007 to 2012, the growth of lower-wage jobs is projected to outpace that of higher-paying jobs, which provide a salary capable of affording necessities, it said. While Connecticut has the fourth-highest median hourly wage in the country, 51 percent of jobs pay less than $20 an hour.
United Way said nearly three-quarters of the ALICE population is white, but that female-headed households, people of color, the disabled and unskilled immigrants are disproportionately represented.
Two of the most common ALICE household types contain seniors or children.
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