Chart of the Week: Missouri Rolls Back St. Louis Minimum Wage Hike

To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

Today, minimum-wage workers in St. Louis make $10/hour. This is only after a two-year battle in the courts in which the Missouri Supreme Court ultimately upheld the City of St. Louis’s authority to raise its minimum wage following a suit brought by business owners against a 2015 city ordinance. But come August 28, their wages will drop to $7.70/hour thanks to the state government – costing the average full-time, minimum-wage worker in St. Louis about $4,600 per year in lost pay.

Income inequality in the city was higher than the nation in 1990 and has only increased since. Rising inequality does not only hurt low- and middle-wage workers; it also acts as a drag on economic growth for the whole region. More equitable economies, on the other hand, are more resilient and experience more sustained economic growth. Still, Missouri Governor Eric Greitens claimed, without evidence, that the city ordinance “will take money out of people’s pockets,” while allowing a bill that will literally take money out of worker’s paychecks to become law. As State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, whose district includes St. Louis, points out: “Missouri taxpayers shell out $2.4 billion per year in public assistance to make up for the fact that big companies like McDonald’s and Walmart don’t pay their workers enough to survive. Governor [Eric] Greitens and Republican legislators in Jefferson City may be content to let taxpayers subsidize poverty [to] pay for big business, but St. Louis is choosing a different path. One way or another, we are going to save this raise.”

This week’s chart shows how even though there has been no real increase in the median hourly wage since 1990, the Black-White wage gap as doubled. While the median wage captures workers in the middle of the wage distribution, research has shown that minimum wage increases produce “ripple effects” or increases in those earning above the minimum wage. More importantly, a living wage for a family consisting of one adult and one child in St. Louis is over $20/hour, but the median wage has remained $18/hour since 1990. At the same time, the Black-White wage gap has doubled. White workers experienced a $2/hour increase in median wages from 1990 to 2014 while the Black median wage declined $1/hour. Despite stagnant wage growth among all workers, the state of Missouri is still working to suppress wages for low-wage workers.

In an equitable city and state, wages would reflect differences in education, training, experience, as well as pay scales across occupations and industries, but would not vary systematically by race or gender. But National Equity Atlas data shows that full-time White workers have a higher median wage than Black workers in St. Louis and Missouri at nearly every education level. Importantly, this law will hurt all low-wage workers throughout the state, taking hard-earned money of out people’s paychecks in order to deepen the pockets of large businesses.

To see how median wages have changed in your city or state, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city or state. Download and share the chart on social media using #equitydata.

National Equity Atlas Update

June 27, 2017

Dear Atlas User,

Summer is here, and the demand for data to drive community action for health equity and inclusive growth continues to grow! We are busy preparing for two important events: the release of five new equity profiles for smaller communities and a national conversation about data tools for health equity action in Portland. We were also thrilled to see our data on working poverty used in an op-ed for Teen Vogue refuting HUD Secretary Ben Carson's claim that poverty is "a state of mind."

July 10 Webcast: Data Tools for Health Equity Action

Join us on July 10 at 11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT for a livestreamed panel discussion in Portland with national leaders who are using and designing data tools to drive health equity action. Speakers include Nathaniel Smith from the Partnership for Southern Equity, Sam Sinyangwe from Campaign Zero and Mapping Police Violence, Julia Sebastian from Race Forward, Cat Goughnour from Radix Consulting and Right 2 Root, and Antwi Akom from Streetwyze, ISEEED, and the Social Innovation and Urban Opportunity Lab at UCSF and SFS. PolicyLink Senior Director Sarah Treuhaft will moderate. The event is co-hosted by PolicyLink and Ecotrust and generously supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. REGISTER NOW.

June 29 Webinar: Disaggregated Data for Equitable Growth in Smaller Cities

On Thursday, June 29 (11 a.m. PDT/2 p.m. EDT), the Equity Atlas team is holding a webinar highlighting the release of new equity data profiles for five smaller communities: Las Cruces and Farmington, New Mexico; Biloxi and Sunflower County, Mississippi; and Battle Creek, Michigan. Local community leaders, including Rodolfo Acosta-Perez from the Community Action Agency of Southern New Mexico, Josh Davis, Delta Health Alliance, Allytra Perryman of the East Biloxi Community Collaborative, and Jorge Zeballos, Center for Diversity and Innovation at Kellogg Community College, will share how they plan to use the data to advance their work. These profiles were developed with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Register here.

New Detroit Equity Profile

After decades of job and population loss, the City of Detroit has shown recent signs of growth, yet deep racial inequities, declining wages, and a hollowing out of middle-wage, high-opportunity jobs threaten the city's rebound and economic viability. Developed with the support of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, this new equity profile highlights how pursuing equitable growth can benefit all residents and businesses in Detroit. For example, had racial inequities in income been eliminated in 2014, the Detroit region's GDP could have been $29 billion larger, a 13 percent increase. We released this profile at a gathering of community leaders on June 13 and also presented our findings at the Allied Media Conference Good Food Good Jobs Network Gathering hosted by FoodLab Detroit.

Chart of the Week is Back!

After a brief hiatus, the Atlas Chart of the Week is back! This week's chart #ProtectMedicaid shows the states with the highest share of people living below 150 percent of the federal poverty line, highlighting those who have expanded Medicaid. To be the first to view each week's chart, follow @PolicyLink on Twitter and visit the Data in Action section of the National Equity Atlas.

In the News…

  • In a recent op-ed for Teen Vogue, writer Lincoln Blades shares our data on working poverty to dispute the perception that poverty is a mindset, responding to HUD Secretary Ben Carson's comment, "I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind."
  • The Long Island Equity Profile released April 24 continues to gain traction. As reported by Newsday, Theresa Sanders of the Long Island Urban League presented the findings to the Long Island Regional Planning Council, the Long Island economy could be $24 billion stronger with racial equity. The council's chair found that statistic "startling" and sought solutions to advance equitable growth in the region.

 

Thank you!

The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

Chart of the Week: #ProtectMedicaid

To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

Last week, Senate Republicans unveiled their health care bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Like the ACA, the House and Senate bills provide health insurance subsidies through tax credits. But they also roll back federal money to states that opt-in to the Medicaid expansion through the ACA and end Medicaid as an open-ended entitlement.

This week’s chart highlights the share of people living below 150 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) and the states that have expanded Medicaid coverage. For states that have expanded coverage, individuals in a household with an income below 138 percent of the FPL are eligible for Medicaid. As the chart below shows, among the five states with the highest share of people of color below 150 percent of the FPL, only Arkansas and Montana have elected to expand Medicaid. The two states with the highest share of people of color below 150 percent of the FPL —South Dakota and Mississippi, where more than half of people of color live below this poverty threshold — have not expanded Medicaid. At the same time, the three states with the highest share of White people below 150 percent of the FPL — West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arkansas — have expanded Medicaid.

As the Senate prepares to bring the health care bill to the floor this week, call your Senators at (202) 224-3121 to encourage them to save Medicaid, which insures nearly one in five Americans.  

To see how poverty varies in your city, region, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas and share the chart of your community using #ProtectMedicaid and #equitydata.

Atlas Data Helps Make the Case that Poverty Is More Than A “State of Mind”

Atlas Data Helps Make the Case that Poverty Is More Than A “State of Mind”

In a recent op-ed for Teen Vogue, writer Lincoln Blades disputes the perception that poverty is a mindset, responding to Ben Carson’s comment during a radio interview, “I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind. You take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they’ll be right back up there.”

Blades uses National Equity Atlas as a resource to outline the extent that Americans experience poverty as a tangible, lived reality, showing:

  • There are more than 100 million Americans living at or below 200 percent of the poverty line.

  • The share of Americans working full-time and landing in poverty increased between 2000 and 2012.

He writes, “Poverty in America is less about something that you do to yourself, and more about something that is done to you, either against your will or without your knowledge and consent. Poverty isn't about your state of mind as much as it is about policy and plunder.”

Read the full story in Teen Vogue.

National Equity Atlas Update

Dear Atlas Users,

It has been a busy month! We released new profiles in Buffalo and Grand Rapids, and are working to finalize several others while doing some strategic planning for the next few years of the Equity Atlas. We are also beginning to think about the equity data elements of the upcoming Equity Summit 2018 to be held in Chicago April 11-13. Mark your calendars now!

Data Driving Health Equity Action in Buffalo
With millions in public and private investments on the horizon, Buffalo is poised for resurgence. But the city’s long-term prosperity hinges on addressing its wide racial and economic inequities in health, wealth, and opportunity. On May 8, in partnership with Open Buffalo and through the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we released a profile and policy brief showcasing health equity as the path to stronger and more inclusive growth in Buffalo. At the event, Atlas team member Ángel Ross shared data showing how Buffalo’s economy could have been over $4 billion stronger in 2014 absent its racial gaps in income, and community leaders discussed how strategies such as inclusionary zoning, community land trusts, and anchor investments in health and economic inclusion can move the city forward for all.

Grand Rapids Equity Profile Released at Facing Inclusion Event
On April 26, An Equity Profile of Grand Rapids was released during a panel discussion and community forum at 2017 FORUM: Facing Inclusion, a convening held by Partners for a Racism-Free Community focused on elevating issues of equity in the city. The profile lends new analyses to support important action already being lead by local advocates to create more equitable opportunities for all residents of the city. Since January, PolicyLink and PERE have been working with advocates in Grand Rapids to develop an equity profile of the city, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

In the News…
Several local and national news outlets covered the Long Island and New Orleans profiles that were released last month:


Thank you!

The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

National Equity Atlas Update

Dear Equity Atlas Users,

Happy April! It has been a busy month with the release of three new equity profiles for Fresno county, New Orleans city, and Long Island (Nassau and Suffolk counties). We have enjoyed working with many local partners to produce critical data to inform equitable growth strategies in these very different communities.

Kicking Things Off in Fresno
Since January, PolicyLink and PERE have been working with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability to develop an equity profile of Fresno County, with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The profile and policy brief were released on April 11 at a forum and panel discussion focused on the implications for this research in health equity campaigns. In addition to the unique data analysis, the documents contain actionable solutions for residents, advocates, business leaders, and policymakers seeking to reduce racial inequalities and build a stronger Fresno. The Leadership Counsel intends to use the information in the profile to mobilize residents and advocates around California’s Transformative Climate Communities Program.

New Data Profile Supports City of New Orleans Equity Strategy
On April 20, the City of New Orleans officially launched its Equity Strategy, describing how local government will do its part to build a stronger, more inclusive city by advancing equity through its operations and decisionmaking. At the event, PolicyLink and PERE released an equity profile of New Orleans, the first of a series of ten new equity profiles produced with the support of the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. PolicyLink has been working with the Office of Mayor Landrieu to provide assistance with developing its equity strategy for the past year through its All-In Cities initiative, and Senior Director Sarah Treuhaft participated on the panel at the launch event and then held a session to share the findings of the equity profile.

Empowering Black Long Island
An Equity Profile of Long Island was released today in partnership with the Long Island Urban League and through the support of Citi Community Development, the Long Island Community Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The profile and policy brief, Empowering Black Long Island: How Equity Is Key to the Future of Nassau and Suffolk Counties highlight how Long Island is rapidly growing more diverse, yet persistent racial inequities thwart inclusive prosperity in the region. Black Long Islanders in particular, who were largely excluded from the massive federally subsidized suburban development that characterizes Long Island, continue to face barriers to full social, economic, and political inclusion. These inequities put the region’s long-term economic future at risk: Long Island’s economy could have been nearly $24 billion stronger in 2014 alone if racial gaps in income were eliminated. Check out the conversation that took place on social media at #EquityLongIsland.

Atlas Data Supports Argument against State Preemption in Facing South
In a recent op-ed, Allie Yee of the Institute for Southern Studies details how Republican-controlled statehouses in the South have been pushing to undermine local authority in liberal-leaning cities. She uses National Equity Atlas data to prove that workers of color bear the brunt of the consequences of Georgia’s bans on local minimum wage increases and local requirements for paid leave. To learn more about the working poor in your state, explore the working poor indicator on the Atlas.

Thank you!
The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

Atlas Data Supports Argument against State Preemption

In a recent op-ed published in Facing South, the online magazine of the Institute for Southern Studies, Allie Yee details how Republican-controlled statehouses in the South have been pushing to undermine local authority in liberal-leaning cities. Moreover, that, “the brunt of those consequences are borne disproportionately by women, people of color, LGBT people, low-income communities, immigrants and those at the intersection of these identities.”

 

She uses National Equity Atlas data to show who suffers the consequences of Georgia’s bans on local minimum wage increases and local requirements for paid leave, writing:

In 2014, according to the National Equity Atlas, 16.6 percent of women of color and 17.7 percent of men of color in the state were considered working poor, defined as those working full-time and living below 200 percent of the poverty level. That compares to only 7.8 percent of white men and 6.1 percent of white women.

To learn more about the working poor in your state, explore the working poor indicator on the Atlas.

National Equity Atlas Update

Dear Equity Atlas Users,

Spring is a busy time for equity data! Our team is hard at work producing 15 new equity profiles, most of which will be released in April and May. We also began digging into our new project focused on employment equity in southern states, and hosted a webinar sharing local jobs equity strategies in New Orleans and Minneapolis.

Employment Equity in Southern States Project Launched
Quality employment is the foundation of a thriving, shared prosperity economy, but even in today's nearly "full employment" economy, many workers of color remain jobless, underemployed, or struggling to get by in low-wage, precarious jobs. With support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, PolicyLink and PERE are working to build employment equity in five southern states: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina. We will analyze the potential economic gains of realizing full employment for workers of every race and gender and work with local partners in each state to effectively frame the research, understand barriers to employment, and present policy solutions at the state and local level. Last week marked the official launch of the project in Alabama, where we are partnering with the Alabama Asset Building Coalition; and Georgia in with the Partnership for Southern Equity.

Webinar Recap: Targeted Strategies to Reduce Employment Inequality
U.S. unemployment rates have fallen across the board, but joblessness remains a pressing challenge for workers of color in many metros. Building on the analysis in our recent brief, Race, Place, and Jobs: Reducing Employment Inequality in America’s Metros, the National Equity Atlas team hosted a webinar on March 23 to lift up local approaches and strategies to close the employment gap in areas of racially concentrated unemployment. Our guest speakers were Asali Ecclesiastes, Claiborne Corridor program manager at the Network for Economic Opportunity (an initiative of the City of New Orleans), and Tawanna Black, executive director of the Neighborhood Funders Group in Minneapolis. You can view the webinar recording online and download the slides now.

#DayWithoutAWoman and St. Louis’s Minimum Wage Win
In the latest Chart of the Week posts, PolicyLink Research Associate Ángel Ross looked at two issues critical to advancing equitable growth locally.

  • For International Women’s Day and in solidarity with the #DayWithoutAWoman campaign, this analysis of the gender wage gap in Oakland highlights the racial and gender-based discrimination that continues to relegate women of color to the lower rungs of the economic system.
  • After the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the city of St. Louis’s authority to raise its minimum wage to $11/hour by 2018 earlier this month, this chart underscores the importance of this victory. Black and Latino full-time workers in the city are 2.5 to 3 times more likely than White full-time workers to live in poverty.


Thank you!
--The National Equity Atlas team at PolicyLink and the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE)

#ADayWithoutAWoman Highlights Racial and Gender-Based Discrimination

To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

Today is International Women’s Day and folks across the country are participating in the Women’s March #DayWithoutAWoman and the International Women’s Strike. Both efforts are focused around the economy—highlighting the lower wages, lack of job security, and greater vulnerability to harassment that many women and femmes face as well as the various forms of unpaid emotional labor expected of women and femmes on the job and at home.

In solidarity with #DayWithoutAWoman, this week’s chart highlights the racial and gender-based discrimination that continues to relegate women of color to the lower rungs of the economic system. The chart below shows median hourly wages of full-time wage and salary workers ages 25 to 64 by race/ethnicity and gender in the city of Oakland, California. Surprisingly, there is no gender wage gap if we do not break down the population by race: the median wage of all women in Oakland is $24/hour, the same as it is among all men. But when we factor in race, the largest gender wage gaps are among White workers. The median wage of White male workers in the city is $4/hour more than the median wage of White female workers.  But White women have a median wage that is $9/hour more than that of Black men and women and $16/hour more than the median wage of Latino men and women. The gender wage gaps are nonexistent among Black and Latino workers and Asian or Pacific Islander women and women of mixed/other races actually have a slightly higher median wage than their male counterparts. Importantly, women of color are more likely than men of color to have an associate’s degree or higher.

Policies to ensure living wages for all workers include raising the floor on low-wage work by increasing the minimum wage or enacting living-wage laws, requiring paid sick days, ending wage theft, strengthening workers’ rights to organize, and ensuring fair scheduling. Businesses in King County (Seattle), Washington are signing on to an initiative pledging to identify internal gender equity issues, share lessons with other employers, and implement best practices to close the gender wage gap.

To see how median wages vary by race/ethnicity and gender in your community, visit the National Equity Atlas and type in your city, region, or state, download and share the chart using #DayWithoutAWomen and #equitydata.

Chart of the Week: St. Louis Wins Court Battle to Raise Minimum Wage

To add equity data to the national dialogue about growth and prosperity, every week the National Equity Atlas team posts a new chart from the Equity Atlas related to current events and issues.

On Tuesday, in a victory for working families, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the city of St. Louis’s authority to raise its minimum wage to $11/hour by 2018. The decision reverses the 2015 ruling of a lower court judge who sided with business groups that sued the City in response to the ordinance. The Missouri Supreme Court judge who presided over the case reiterated that the city law does not conflict with state minimum wage laws: “[The state law’s] purpose of protecting employees is served by setting a floor for minimum wages; nothing in the law suggests the state also wanted to protect employers by setting a maximum minimum wage.” Although this ruling is a win for St. Louis workers, a separate 2015 state law prevents any other local jurisdictions from passing their own minimum wage increases, regardless of the local cost of living.

To highlight the importance of local minimum wages, this week’s chart looks at the share of full-time workers with a family income below 100, 150, and 200 percent of poverty in the city of St. Louis. As the chart below shows, nearly 29 percent of Black full-time workers ages 25 to 64 live below 200 percent of poverty compared with 10 percent of White full-time workers. Even more strikingly, nearly 7 percent of Latino full-time workers live below the federal poverty line compared with just over 2 percent of White full time workers. In other words, Black and Latino full-time workers in the city are 2.5 to 3 times more likely than White full time workers to live in poverty.

In a statement, St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis Reed said, “Today, the Supreme Court justified our rights as a city to make sure the people in our city can make a living wage. The people of St. Louis need to be able to afford groceries for their families and a roof over their heads.” According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a living wage for one adult with two children in St. Louis is just over $25/hour, but this victory puts the city on the right path to ensuring that all full-time workers earn family supporting wages.

To explore policies that lift workers out of poverty, check out the Agenda to Raise America’s Pay and the Tax Alliance for Economic Mobility’s brief on utilizing tax credits for low-income workers.

To see how working poverty varies for your city, region, or state, visit the National Equity Atlas, download the chart and share on social media using #equitydata.

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