Huckleberries Online

Few Earn Living Wage In INW

Posted by DFO

Dec. 4, 2009 8:29 a.m. • 6 comments

Anyone who was lucky enough to find a job in Washington or Idaho in 2008 likely ended up with one that doesn’t pay enough to support a family, according to a new study out today. The Northwest Job Gap study, which the Northwest Confederation of Community Organizations has sponsored each year or two since 1999, calculated that a living wage for a single adult with two children in Washington was $28.67 an hour, and 77 percent of job openings last year didn’t pay that much. In Idaho, the figure was $26.98 an hour, and 89 percent of job openings fell short/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Do you survive on one salary in your household?

Six comments on this post so far. Add yours!

nic on December 04 at 8:52 a.m.
I’m married with kids, and I’ve managed to support my family for most of the past 6 years on one income. We’ve been able to pay rent, make our car payments, carry insurance, and keep food in our kid’s mouths for much less $26.98 an hour. But then again, we don’t live in a massive house, we don’t drive a luxury vehicle, we don’t own any toys (boat, jet ski, snowmobile, etc.), and we eat fairly cheap. I thing the Northwest Job Gap should redifine “livable.”
Cindy_H on December 04 at 8:53 a.m.
Not anymore, but I think we could do it again if needed.
Digger on December 04 at 9:46 a.m.
I agree with Nic.
scootermom on December 04 at 10:19 a.m.
We live on two, but we could live on one if necessary. Once you get rid of debt, it’s a whole lot easier to live on less.
Kendramama on December 04 at 10:34 a.m.
Yep. Barely, though. And now that I have my class schedule for this Spring Semester at NIC, in which I intentionally scheduled everything for before noon, I will be avidly looking for a p/t evening or at home type/flexible job. So anyone out there looking for a “Jane of all Trades” on evenings or weekends, shoot me an email!
JohnA on December 04 at 11:10 a.m.
Yes, one salary but two jobs. The day job pays for the fundamentals (gas, food and beer) and the accounting business pays for the ‘toys’, as Nic calls them. I’m lucky, though, that I can usually cram my jobs into a four-day week (although they’re four LONG days), so I have time to work the property and spend time with family and friends.

I tell my kids, nieces and nephews the same thing my folks told me, the key to a living wage is education. It’s tough to make 27 bucks an hour as a soda jerk or tire jerk or any other jerk. I tell them to start out with some education after high school, even in a trade school, before they start dropping kids, their credit and possibly then, their spouses.

I don’t see how they can make it any other way, not here or anywhere else, without a sound education.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.