The report crystallizes what WFSN partners understand all too well — job training alone is not enough to help low-income workers access and retain good jobs.
Low-income jobseekers, especially parents, face many barriers entering and staying in the workforce. In general, lack of transportation and child care are obstacles. For those who work nights, weekends and less traditional hours, those barriers can be insurmountable. When a child is sick or a car breaks down, the challenges only compound. Most low-income families already struggle with meeting monthly expenses. Even a few weeks of a reduced work schedule can ramp up pressures. As such, low-income workers often turn to pay-day lenders, who charge high interest rates, all of which creates a mountain of debt that negatively impacts their credit scores.
For those workers who start to move up economically, even a small pay raise could force them to lose child care subsidies that cost them more than the raise (also known as a “benefits cliff”), presenting new economic challenges. And that was before COVID-19.
Given the impact of the pandemic already, LISC’s Jordan believes organizations that understand the challenges workers face will be pivotal in communities.
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