From United Way of West Florida
Some low-wage workers are financially worse off today than a decade ago despite recent wage gains, according to a new report from United Way of West Florida and United for ALICE, a national research organization driving solutions to financial hardships from headquarters in New Jersey.
Recent wage increases for low-wage jobs have been no match for the surging cost of essentials and a decade of stagnant wages. For example, from 2010 to 2022, child care workers in Florida saw median annual wages increase 9.4%. But they were still more than $17,780 short of being able to afford the basics for one adult and one school-age child, according to the 2024 ALICE
Essentials Index report. In 2010, child care workers were facing a smaller $14,639 gap between wages and the cost of essentials.
Child care workers are not the only ones struggling financially. According to United For ALICE calculations, 8,800,279 Florida households — 46% — couldn’t make ends meet in 2022, an uptick from 2021. This includes households in poverty and those who are ALICE® (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), earning above the Federal Poverty Level but less
than the cost of basics.
“The ALICE Essentials Index report shows that recent wage increases could not undo the damage done to those who have been harder hit by inflation for more than a decade,” said United Way of West Florida CEO, Laura Gilliam.
“When ALICE workers are already standing far behind the starting line in the race to get ahead, a pay increase alone isn’t going to see them across the finish line.”
The ALICE Essentials Index tracks the rising cost of essentials, including housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, and basic technology. In contrast, the standard measure, the Consumer Price Index, tracks inflation across more than 200 categories of goods and services.
According to the report, nationwide, no low-wage jobs caught up to basic costs from 2010 to 2022. Of occupations tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a substantial 240 could not support what it costs to get by in today’s economy.
The report also reveals that since 2007, the ALICE Essentials Index for Florida has consistently outpaced the broader CPI. Costs peaked between 2021 and 2023, during which the ALICE Essentials Index rose at an annual rate of 9.4%, compared to 6.1% for CPI.
To learn more about the ALICE Essentials Index, and to explore the online dashboards, visit United4ALICE.org/ALICEindex.
