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Even as real wages rebound, low-income households are playing catch-up

Aug 22, 2023
Average hourly earnings are now rising faster than prices. But two years of high inflation have left many low-income people in a financial hole.
Inflation can take a heavier toll on low-income workers because a large proportion of their pay goes toward necessities like food.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Workers are picking up extra jobs just to pay for daily necessities

Aug 8, 2022
More people in the United States are working two full-time jobs than ever before, says Lauren Kaori Gurley of The Washington Post.
Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

Wildfires disproportionately affect low-income Americans, study finds

Aug 3, 2022
The overlap between wildfire risk and concentrated insurance markets leaves residents with few options.
A firefighting helicopter flies near smoke and flames at the McKinney Fire, in the Klamath National Forest near Yreka, California, on August 2, 2022.
DAVID MCNEW/AFP via Getty Images

Banks suspended overdraft fees for the pandemic. Now, 1 is doing so permanently.

Jun 3, 2021
Ally Bank says the charges made up less than 1% of revenue and disproportionately affected Black, Latinx and low-income customers.
The banking industry generated $12 billion from overdraft fees last year, but for many banks, the charges make little impact on financial results.
Nicola Katie via Getty Images

Does universal basic income discourage work? Maybe not, new data says.

We're learning more about what happens when the government gives people money without conditions.
New data from the first year of a universal basic income program in Stockton, California, suggests worries over work incentives might be overblown.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Ten states to seek work requirements for Medicaid recipients

Jan 11, 2018
The Trump administration is offering states a path to impose new work requirements for some people who get health insurance under Medicaid, the program that serves 68 million primarily low-income, elderly and disabled Americans. This is a historic shift. Never in Medicaid’s 52 years have people had to work in order to get health insurance. […]

It's a long wait for Section 8 housing in U.S. cities

Jan 3, 2018
In Los Angeles, it can take 10 years to get a voucher — if you're lucky.
In Los Angeles, 188,000 people applied for 20,000 spots in the housing voucher waiting line.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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A tale of two minimum wages

Jun 30, 2017
Young women in Louisiana and Los Angeles talk about getting by in the bottom tax brackets.
Protesters gathered at a rally for minimum wage in New York City. 
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Will tax reform upend market for low-income housing?

Mar 29, 2017
Cutting corporate taxes affects the market for affordable housing tax credits
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program has helped investors lower the cost of rent, but President Donald Trump’s campaign pledge to cut corporate taxes is already affecting the market for low-income credits.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images