"The Unheard Third" – Giving a Voice to Low-Income New Yorkers

Imagine that you are a working parent, without paid sick leave or family health insurance, and a child of yours is sick. Do you stay home with the child and chance losing your job? Do you take your child to a doctor and pay for medical care and prescription medicine with the food or rent money? What sort of choices are these for working people in New York City in the 21st century? Something is very wrong here, and New Yorkers know it.

The growing gap between the rich and poor in America is unfair and is a problem that should be addressed immediately. More than half of New Yorkers across all income groups agree that income inequality is a national problem. And most New Yorkers think that things in the city are seriously off on the wrong track.  Only 33 percent of low-income Black New Yorkers - and less than half of moderate-income Blacks - think the city is headed in the right direction.   

These are some of the findings of the Community Service Society's (CSS) sixth annual survey of more than 1,000 low-income New Yorkers.   The survey – called "The Unheard Third" - tracks the concerns and hardships of the city's low-income residents and their views on what programs and policies would help them get ahead.  To gain a perspective and some contrast to low-income opinions, the survey also includes a sample of over 500 moderate-income New Yorkers.

Universal Health Care

The concern about adequate health care pervades many facets of life for low-income New Yorkers.  For instance, health problems are mentioned as the number one barrier to getting a job by the survey’s unemployed respondents.

Health care tops the policy agenda for low-income residents of New York City.  Twenty-nine percent of all low-income respondents, including 37 percent of Black respondents, say it is the top domestic issue which will impact voting in next year’s elections.  Over 80 percent of all income groups believe that universal health care should be a high priority for the federal government.  There is strong support for universal coverage across income levels – including the expansion of successful public programs.  The majority of New Yorkers, including more than 60 percent of low-income respondents, think that a state health insurance program should cover all residents, regardless of immigrant status. 

Low-income Black New Yorkers say that housing assistance (38 percent) and health insurance (32 percent) are the top government benefits they need to get ahead.  In contrast, moderate-income respondents think that job training (44 percent) and basic education (34 percent) are the top government supports that low-income New Yorkers need.

Income Inequality

The topic of income inequality points up a disturbing set of findings in the survey.  In this country, there is a notion that work is the antidote to poverty.  But for many of New York City's poor – the 1.7 million New Yorkers living below the federal poverty line – this is not so.  In the last year, 43 percent of poor households faced three or more hardships: 26 percent fell behind in rent payments, 21 percent postponed medical care, 28 percent could not afford to fill prescriptions, 23 percent went hungry at some point, 31 percent cut back of school supplies and clothing. 

Contrast these percentages with those of poor New Yorkers who are working full time.  The expectation is that workers would be better off because of their employment.  But the same percentage – 43 percent – faced three or more hardships in the past year: 30 percent fell behind in rent payments, 23 percent postponed medical care, 31 percent could not afford to fill prescriptions, 21 went hungry at some point, 35 percent cut back on school supplies and clothing.

Work has not been an
antidote to poverty

It is obvious that, for the working poor, a job has not lifted them out of poverty.  It may explain why most of these respondents think that the city is off on the wrong track. 

One of the major barriers for workers trying to raise their families out of poverty is the lack of benefits on the job.  Only 33 percent of poor full-time workers receive employer-based health care coverage, 34 percent get paid sick leave, only 17 percent have prescription drug coverage, 24 percent have health insurance for their family.  We found that 37 percent receive no job benefits at all.  With this paucity of job benefits, it is not surprising that about seven out of ten low-income New Yorkers, if given the opportunity, would join a union, where worker benefits are better.

Our survey shows strong support across all income groups for a law requiring at least seven days paid sick leave per year for full-time workers.  There is also strong support for expansion of disability insurance to care for a new child or a seriously ill family member.

When welfare reform was instituted more than a decade ago, the aim was to get the poor off of the rolls and into jobs.  By this measure, welfare reform has been a success.  But a job has not made life better for many low-wage workers and their families. 

We must ensure that work is a path out of poverty.  That means better access to health care through public health programs and legislation to ensure decent job benefits such as sick leave.  Without these life-sustaining benefits, the promise of a job advanced by those who supported welfare reform will merely be another joke on poor people in this country.

To view The Unheard Third survey, visit us online at: http://www.cssny.org/pdfs/UT_Press_Release_Data.pdf.

From the New York Amsterdam News
January 24 - 30, 2008