New York State Self-Sufficiency Standard for 2010 Released

August 19, 2010

Author: Susan C. Antos

It has been ten years since the last report, but with the support of the Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), the 2010 New York State Self-Sufficiency Standard, with data for 70 family types in every county in New York State, has been released.  The Standard, which provides critical information on the cost of living, tailored by family composition and county of residence, was prepared for the New York State Self-Sufficiency Standard Steering Committee by Dr. Diana Pearce from the University of Washington, Center for Women’s Welfare. Dr. Pearce has calculated the standard for 37 states and the District of Columbia.  See http://www.selfsufficiencystandard.org/standard.html.

Empire Justice Center was part of the steering committee for this project, which included seven other agencies coordinated by the New York State Community Action Association.

The new standard creates an individualized measure of income adequacy for many different family types in every county in New York State, considering the number of children and adults in the household and the ages of those children.  The standard first calculates the amount that it would take to be self-sufficient without public supports and calculates an hourly wage that would allow the family to meet that target.  The standard includes the effect of both taxes and tax credits in determining this wage.

One of the most significant findings of the report is that the amount needed to be economically self-sufficient in New York State varies dramatically depending on where a family lives.  For example, as indicated by the chart below, a single mom with one pre-schooler and one school age child could meet her basic costs of living with an hourly wage of $19.72 in Allegany County, whereas that same mom would need to make $37.37 an hour to meet those needs in Suffolk County:

The standard assumes that all adults, regardless of household composition, are working, and therefore includes the cost of transportation, health insurance and child care as part of the standard. The cost of public transportation was used in counties where the census bureau reported that at least 7% of the population used public transportation to get to work: New York City, Nassau, Rockland, Tompkins and Westchester.  Data from the American Automobile Association, the New York State Insurance Department, the 2008 Consumer Expenditure Survey and the National Household Travel Survey provided data on commuting distances and costs of car ownership, maintenance and insurance in the remaining counties.

The standard assumes employer sponsored health care and uses the average premium paid by employed insured adults using data from the New York State Department of Insurance, combined with data regarding out of pocket costs. Child care costs are determined by using the 2009 market rate standards that are promulgated biennially by OCFS. The standard uses an averaged family/ group family rate for children under the ages of 2, family child care rates for 2 year old children and child day care center rates for children ages 3- 5.

Housing costs are determined by using FY 2010 Fair Market Rents (which include non-telephone utility costs) promulgated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, adjusted by median gross rent ratios by county from the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The United States Department of Agriculture Low Cost Food Plan is used to determine food costs, which does not include the cost of any take-out or restaurant meals. Miscellaneous costs included in the standard are clothing, shoes, diapers, cleaning products, personal hygiene articles and telephone service.  Recreation, entertainment, savings and debt repayment are not considered in determining the standard.

The report also shows the effect that child support, child care and other work supports can have to make a wage that is below the self-sufficiency wage an adequate wage. For example, the self-sufficiency wage for a single parent with one school age and one pre-school child in Ulster County is $25.82. However, with a child support order of $288 per month and a child care subsidy, the self-sufficiency wage for that family is lowered to $16.54 per month.

As the chart below shows, the self-sufficiency standard presents a very different measure than other frequently used income benchmarks.  Unlike the poverty level, the Self-Sufficiency Standard looks at the real costs of living for a working family with children without work supports.  The comparison to the minimum wage in the chart below also shows how inadequate the minimum wage is for a family with children:

The report also indicates how much the cost of these items has increased over the last 10 years and concludes that the consumer price index significantly underestimates the real cost of living increases for families with children.

An appendix in the Report indicates how the standard has been used across the country to assess the effect of public programs and policy changes. For example, in Oklahoma, an analysis based on the Oklahoma Self-Sufficiency Standard on the effect of large increases in child care co-payments led to the state rescinding the proposed increases.  The standard can also be used to evaluate the effect of economic development proposals and to help determine where “job training dollars” should be targeted.  In New York, it is worth noting that the cost of child care is nearly double the cost of housing for families with two young children. This fact both increases the self-sufficiency wage to over $20 per hour in nearly every county, and underscores the necessity for child care subsidies for families earning less than that amount.

The report, and additional charts with all 70 family types for every county, can be found at:   http://www.nyscommunityaction.org/self_sufficiency_standard.cfm

Footnotes

1.  Both charts in this article are from the 2010 New York State Self-Sufficiency Standard Report and were created by Dr. Diana Pearce.