WEST VIRGINIA (LOOTPRESS) – Despite the fastest wage growth for the lowest-paid jobs in four decades across the country, the number of households struggling in West Virginia has increased by more than 4,355 from 2021 to 2022.
This has resulted in a total of 720,668 households, or 48%, living paycheck to paycheck, according to a recent update from United Way of Southern WV and its research partner United For ALICE.
This figure includes 123,486 West Virginia households in poverty and 220,759 defined as ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), earning above the Federal Poverty Level but less than what’s needed to survive in the current economy.
ALICE workers include child care providers, home health aides, and cashiers— those working low-wage jobs, with little or no savings and one emergency away from poverty. The update on financial hardship in West Virginia shows that while wages were increasing, so were costs.
For a family of four with an infant and a preschooler, the basic costs to live and work in West Virginia, excluding tax credits, rose from $62,124 in 2021 to $74,628 a year later. The findings in this one-year period are consistent with a more than decade-long trend: since the end of the Great Recession, despite some ups and downs, the number of ALICE households in West Virginia has been steadily growing.
From 2010 to 2022, the total number of households fell by 3%, households in poverty decreased by 4%, and the number of ALICE households grew by 13%.
Stephanie Hoopes, Ph.D., United For ALICE National Director, commented, “The data is showing persistent and widespread financial hardship. Current policy has not been enough to break down the barriers that trap ALICE households in financial hardship, from lack of access to affordable housing and childcare to inadequate community support such as broadband internet.”
Trena Dacal, Executive Director of United Way of Southern West Virginia, added, “Inflation has trapped ALICE households and created a greater number of those households struggling to make ends meet.”
Additional insights include:
- From 2010 to 2022, people aged 65 and over made up the fastest-growing age group in West Virginia — and the group with the largest increase (21%) in the number of households struggling to make ends meet.
- Racial disparities persisted in the rates of financial hardship; 62% of Black households in West Virginia were either in poverty or ALICE in 2022, compared to 47% of white and 44% of Hispanic households.
- Food assistance continued to elude many vulnerable families in West Virginia. Partly due to the SNAP income eligibility level in the state (200% of the Federal Poverty Level), only 52% of all West Virginia households in poverty and 21% of all ALICE households participated in SNAP in 2022.
To read the Update and access online, interactive dashboards that provide data on financial hardship at the state, county and local levels, visit UnitedForALICE.org/West-Virginia.