I feel that at the current state that Franklin County is in now, many families cannot even get close to reaching living wage. I am mainly talking about one earner families, which make up 24 percent of Franklin County (According to the 2015 American Community Survey). One adult earning the minimum wage of $10 is still a dollar and a half under the living wage of one adult. (The living wage for one adult is $11.43 according to the 2015 Living Wage Calculator) That is only for one adult living alone, which is not the case for many of the families there are many with another adult, and many with at least one kid as well, but sadly no matter how many people there are in a family the minimum wage doesn’t go up, but the living wage sure does. The living wage can go up as high as $26.33 with a single earner family with three children. That seems like it would be impossible if the living wage is that much higher, but there is not much those families can really do about that.
Michael Hill
Greenfield