New Report Provides ALICE Information for Clark County
Wednesday, July 29th, 2020 -- 1:11 PM
-A newly released report provides statistics on the number of homes living at or below ALICE levels in Clark County.ALICE is an acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed and a new way of defining and understanding the struggles of households that earn above the Federal Poverty Level, but not enough to afford basic necessities. According to the report for Clark County, which looked at data from 2010 to 2018, the county had a population of 34,491 and 12,800 households. The median household income was $51,872 with a state average of $60,773. The unemployment rate was around 3% with the state around 3.2%. Clark County has an average of 30% for ALICE households, with the state average around 23%, and the county had 12% of households in poverty with the state at an average of 11%. The Household Survival Budget reflects the bare minimum cost to live and work in the modern economy and includes housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, technology (a smartphone plan), and taxes. It does not include savings for emergencies or future goals like college or retirement.
In 2018, household costs were well above the Federal Poverty Level of $12,140 for a single adult and $25,100 for a family of four. A breakdown of the labor force shows a small portion of adults (16 years and older) who were unemployed and a large number who were working in 2018. However, a significant portion of full- and part-time workers were paid by the hour; these workers were more likely to have fluctuations in income and less likely to receive benefits. There was also a high number of workers outside of the labor force (people who are not employed and not looking for work), which helped keep wages low: When more workers are available, employers have less incentive to raise wages to attract employees.
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