While Congress and the White House wrangle over spending on infrastructure and social programmes, the most pressing problem for the US remains little acknowledged and unaddressed: tens of millions of people work full time and cannot afford food, clothes, housing, health care and a proper education for their children.
But make no mistake, huge numbers of Americans go to work every day and do not earn a living. When I share the numbers in conversation, I am often met with scepticism and amazement, which I attribute to a lack of awareness more than caring. Most people do not have time to pore over economic data, which is the only way many of them will encounter the enormity of the problem given the country’s segregation along class lines.
The bottom line here is median income is probably enough if you are single with no children or partnered with another full-time worker and live somewhere other than a coastal city. That excludes a lot of people. Exactly how many is hard to say based on the available data, but given the number of full-time workers and the median pay, it is safely tens of millions of working Americans.
It may sound naive to think that companies will voluntarily forego profits today for an uncertain payoff down the road, but they do it all the time. Research & development are two examples. A growing number of companies are also spending money on environmental, social and governance initiatives, investing in green technology to manage environmental risks, for example, or improving governance to avoid mismanagement. Paying workers a living wage is no less worthy an investment.
Workers who move to lower-cost locales would instantly enjoy a higher standard of living — and possibly help revive their adopted cities and towns. Companies could still provide local offices for those who want to work outside the house occasionally, or even full time, and it is likely to be cheaper than maintaining sprawling corporate headquarters.