low wages

A new Economic Policy Institute report finds workers in the 26 states with right-to-work laws earn nearly 7% less on average than those in states without them, a gap that has more than doubled over the last decade.

The highest state minimum wages as of Jan. 1, 2024 will be Washington state at $16.28 and California at $16. But is that really enough to live on?

Health care, child care and K-12 education, which offer jobs with lower pay that need to be done in person, have yet to fully recover.

“We’ve never invested in the ability of families to afford the care that they need,” says Ai-jen Poo of the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai used the phrase when announcing Google’s move to a hybrid workweek.

In many countries, those working in low-wage jobs or in the gig economy were left out of government relief packages.

But almost a year into the pandemic, most front-line workers are going without it.

Twenty states are raising their minimum wages as we usher in 2019.