C/O SENSES, 275 State Street, Albany, NY, 12210, (518) 463-5576

Susan Antos, Greater Upstate Law Project

Ron Deutsch, Statewide Emergency Network for Social and Economic Security, Co-chair

Mark Dunlea, Hunger Action Network of NYS

Suzanne Garhart, Workforce Development Institute, Hudson Valley Community College

David Hamilton, NYS Catholic Conference

Lois Johnson, Women's Employment and Resource Center

Dan Maskin, NYS Community Action Association

Ann Mattei, Adult Literacy and Workforce Preparation Team, NYS Education Department

Sandra McGarraugh, NYS Career Options Institute, Co-chair

Christine McKenna, Statewide Emergency Network for Social and Economic Security

Merble Reagon, Women's Center for Education and Career Advancement

Trudi Renwick, Fiscal Policy Institute

Russ Simon, NY Association of Training and Employment Professionals

Rus Sykes, State Communities Aid Association

Scott Trees, Siena College

Elie Ward, Statewide Youth Advocacy

Agnes Zellin, NYS Child Care Coordinating Council

The Self Sufficiency Standard for New York

Executive Summary

How much income do families need to cover their costs? How do we know if public policies help or hurt families chances of meeting their basic needs? Which jobs pay high enough wages to cover work-related expenses such as child care, transportation and taxes along with other basic necessities?

These critical questions can be answered using an innovative tool called the Self-Sufficiency Standard. The Standard measures how much income is needed, for a family of a given composition in a given place, to adequately meet its basic needs - without public or private assistance.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard for New York contains estimates of the monthly and hourly "self-sufficiency" wage for 8 family types in 64 separate jurisdictions. The complete report, calculates "self-sufficiency" wages for 70 family types for each county in the state. Separate estimates are included for upper and lower Manhattan and Yonkers.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard for New York is calculated using a methodology that has been utilized by Dr. Pearce and Wider Opportunity for Women to calculate self-sufficiency standards for 12 other jurisdictions, including Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

The Standard uses the best available estimates of the specific costs of providing food, housing, child care, transportation and health care. For costs such as housing, health care and child care, for which there is significant geographical variation, county-specific cost estimates are used. For example, housing costs outside New York City are based on the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Fair Market Rents while the cost of child care is estimated using the rates set by the Market Rate Survey conducted last year by the New York State Office of Children and Family. Outside New York City, for a single parent family with two preschool children, monthly self-sufficiency wage requirements range from $5,044 per month in Nassau and Suffolk Counties to $2,501 per month in Otsego County. If we assume full-time work, these translate into hourly wage requirements of $28.66 and $14.21 respectively.

For all jurisdictions in New York State, the self-sufficiency standard documents that families require incomes significantly higher than the federal poverty thresholds to meet basic needs. The federal poverty threshold for a family of three anywhere in the state (anywhere in the country for that matter) is $14,150. In Albany County, the annual income requirements for three-person single parent families calculated using the self-sufficiency standard range from $21,900 for a parent with two older children to $34,848 for a parent with two children using child care.

While both the Self-Sufficiency Standard and the official poverty measure assess income adequacy, the Standard differs from the official poverty measure in several important ways:

• the Standard explicitly incorporates the costs of working: transportation and child care;
• the Standard takes into account that many costs differ not only by family size and composition, but also by the age of the children;
• the Standard incorporates regional and local variations in costs; · the Standard includes the net effect of taxes and tax credits;
• the Standard is based on the costs of each basic need considered separately.

The report also includes an analysis of the ways in which low-income families may be able to close the gap between basic needs and income, including child support, subsidized health care coverage and various other public subsidies. The report shows that the receipt of child care assistance, food stamps, and Medicaid can reduce the hourly self-sufficiency wage requirement for a single parent family with two pre-school children living in Albany County from $16.38 an hour to $5.18. The report illustrates the dramatic impact that these and other public supports can have on the ability of families to meet basic needs.

The Self-Sufficiency Standard for New York State is being distributed by the New York State Self-Sufficiency Steering Committee. A companion report, The Self-Sufficiency Standard for the City of New York, is being released by the The Women's Center for Education and Career Advancement and Wider Opportunities for Women. For copies of the New York City report call (212) 964-8934.

For further information on the findings and implications of the Self-Sufficiency Standard for New York State contact: