It’s Expensive To Be Poor: Workforce
When Leticia’s son got sick, she had to miss a shift at her part-time job. Unlike salaried workers with benefits, she didn’t have paid time off. Missing one day meant losing wages she needed for rent. When she missed two days, her manager cut her hours. Within weeks, she was forced to choose between paying utilities or buying groceries. What started as caring for her child turned into a spiral of instability.
This is the reality for millions of low-wage workers: life happens, but the workforce isn’t designed to accommodate their lives. And when the system fails, it’s the workers with the least margin who pay the most.
The High Cost of Low-Wage Work
According to the Urban Institute, nearly 1 in 4 workers in the U.S. are considered low-wage, earning less than 150% of the federal minimum wage. For many, this means:
Multiple jobs, fewer benefits → Instead of one stable, full-time role, low-wage workers often juggle multiple part-time jobs with no health insurance, paid time off, or retirement benefits .
Healthcare insecurity → Only 18.8% of low-wage workers in low-income families with children receive health insurance through their employers .
Unpredictable schedules → Last-minute shift changes or third-shift assignments collide with childcare, transportation, and sleep.
Higher risks → Missing work for a sick child or car breakdown can mean lost income - or termination.
Add to this the reality that poorer households pay a higher share of their income in taxes than wealthier ones, and it becomes clear: work doesn’t always pay when the system itself is inequitable.
Why This Matters
The workforce is more than jobs - it’s about dignity and opportunity. When workers can’t access stability, they can’t:
Build long-term financial security.
Care for their families without fear of job loss.
Participate fully in civic and community life.
Work should create pathways to flourishing, not deepen cycles of poverty.
What Can Be Done
At the Systems Level
Expand access to paid leave and predictable scheduling.
Incentivize employers to offer benefits for part-time workers, not just full-time roles.
Reform tax policies that disproportionately burden low-income households.
Invest in childcare and transportation solutions that make work accessible.
At the Personal Level
Advocate for fair labor practices in your city or state.
Support businesses that pay living wages and provide benefits to hourly workers.
Listen to worker stories and share them in your circles—humanizing data with lived experience.
Give consistently to nonprofits providing emergency support for workers (childcare stipends, car repair funds, wage replacement programs).
A Call to Action
This post is part of our ongoing “It’s Expensive to Be Poor” series, which explores how hidden costs in banking, transportation, housing, and the workforce deepen inequality.
Keep reading the series:
Listen to real voices: Fracture to Flourish: Aging Out shares what work and stability look like for young people aging out of foster care.
Read more: Miss Joyce’s story shows what happens when benefit cliffs collide with work decisions.
Because work should lift people up—not push them further down. Together, we can reimagine a workforce where flourishing is possible for all.
(Originally posted July 2018, updated October 2025)