Earning a Living Wage in the United States

An October 2023 Barron's-Harris Poll suggests that many Americans are living in or under the threat of financial distress. In the poll, sixty five percent of Americans said they frequently live paycheck to paycheck, between thirty and thirty five percent report that they do not have any money left to save at the end of a month. These statistics do little to capture the toll of the struggle to earn and pay a living wage.

DUSP's Amy Glasmeier, Professor of Economic Geography and Regional Planning and founder of the MIT Living Wage Calculator, joined Andy Stevenson for an episode of Bloomberg's ESG Currents podcast. In the episode they discuss what it means to earn a living wage, what percentage of Americans are living at or below the living wage, and how companies are responding to inflation-driven wage pressures to meet their employees basic needs. 

The Living Wage Calculator utilizes geographically-specific costs for food, childcare, health care, housing, transportation, other basic needs as well as taxes at the county, metro, and state levels to provide a what a worker must earn to meet their family's needs. The calculator adjusts these costs to account for  twelve different family types. 

ESG Currents is a podcast focused on understand the objectives, mechanisms, and lexicon of environmental, social, and corporate governance through interviews with industry experts.

Listen to the full episode via: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Apple Podcasts