Low wages improve the bottom line for corporations, but hurt everyone else. Workers with meager earnings struggle to make ends meet, and taxpayers carry the burden of helping them meet basic needs. Consider this family of four living in Connecticut: The father makes $10 an hour working full time in retail; the mother works 20 hours a week at the same salary. Neither receives benefits from their employers. Their total yearly income is $31,032. They pay $900 a month for rent. They are eligible for SNAP, energy and childcare assistance, HUSKY, and Medicaid, which would cost taxpayers $29,147 a year. Even subtracting the $6,200 that they would pay in taxes, the public will still be footing a $22,947 bill.
Source: Connecticut Association for Human Services, 11/13, Cost of Low Wages
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