- As the 2018 Farm Bill makes its way through Congress, many on both sides of the aisle say it is the beginning of the reduction of the Federal safety net for families in poverty. The new work requirements for individuals, ages 18-59, to receive SNAP benefits (food stamps) sound good on paper. A 20 hour work week or participation in job training for an adult who is not disabled is being proposed with a strong push for states to provide job training to those in the program. Exceptions in the House version are made for pregnant women, people with disabilities and parents with children younger than 6. The Senate version is yet to be brought to committee.
Who would argue that working a 20 hour week is a bad thing? Well, if the point of working is to support your family or yourself and to be independent of government support, the math just doesn’t add up for Mississippians. Mississippi is one of only five states with no minimum wage law. The Minimum Wage in our state is $7.25 an hour because it is the requirement set by the Federal government. There are exceptions to the Minimum Wage set in some states such as the one relating to wait staff. The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act allows employees who receive regular tips to be paid less than Federal Minimum Wage (as little as $2.13/hr.) as long as the tips they receive in any given hour plus their wage add up to at least the applicable Minimum Wage. How well the requirement is enforced is another challenge for workers, who may be paid “off the books”.
In 2014 Mississippi had the highest rate of low-wage jobs in the nation. Low-wage jobs refer to the percentage of jobs in occupations with median annual pay below the 100 percent poverty threshold for a family of four ($22,314). One-third of all jobs in the state are low-wage jobs. In other words, 35.5 percent of jobs are in occupations that provide poverty-level wages, considerably higher than the national average for the percentage of low-paying jobs.
Full time minimum wage workers in Mississippi earn a total of $290.00 per week and approximately $15,080.00 per year (based on an 8 hour days and a 260-day work year) before taxes. The federal poverty threshold for a household of two is $14,570 per year. This calculation provides the wage for a full-time employee which is not the case as reflected in the work schedules of the majority of the state’s low income employees. Currently the average SNAP benefit for a family is $125.80 per month. This average amount does not pay the weekly, much less monthly grocery bill for families who strive to eat healthy and balanced meals. In doing the math it is easy to see that working 40 hours a week at $7.25 an hour and receipt of the average $125.80 in food stamps a month is not the ticket out of poverty for those this is intended to help become self -sufficient. Until the state raises the minimum wage to a decent one, and employers decide to employ more low wage workers for full time positions, we are kidding ourselves if we think Federal work requirements on any social program are going to measurably reduce poverty in our state.
Dr. Cathy Grace