Working Poor

One of the most common misconceptions is the assumption that if someone is hungry, that means they do not have a job and are living on the streets. What most people don’t understand is that anyone can experience hunger. It is a silent epidemic that affects more than 49 million Americans.

According to the US Census Bureau, in 2008, 19 million people lived in working-poor families. This translates into nearly 9 percent of all American families living below 100 percent of poverty have at least one family member working. i In fact, 36 percent of client households served by the Feeding America network have one or more adults working. ii

Working Poor Facts

• Female-headed households were more than twice as likely to be among the working poor than male-headed households in 2007. iii
  
• Married-couple families with children under 18 were almost 5 times as likely as families without children to be among the working poor in 2007. iii
  
• According to a survey on hunger and homelessness conducted by the United States Conference of Mayors, 74% of cities participating in the survey cited unemployment as one of three major causes of hunger in their city. iv

• Thirty-nine percent of all adult clients served by Feeding America have completed high school or equivalent degree with no further education beyond high school. ii

• Thirty-four percent of all client households served by Feeding America have had to choose between paying for food and paying for medicine or medical care.ii

• Sixty-five percent of working families that received SNAP were single-parent families. v
  
• In 2002, 1 in 4 low-income families (incomes at 200 percent of the federal poverty level) with one full-time, full-year worker was food insecure and housing insecure.  Forty-nine percent of workers have employer-sponsored insurance in comparison to 77 percent of middle-income families with insurance. vi