Being poor is not a choice, but the majority of the country still seems to believe it is. Other ideas, equally incorrect, also prevail and, too often, influence policy, such as cash assistance for the poor being a disincentive to work. The reality is that even full-time employment is not enough to escape from poverty when it’s a minimum wage job. A single parent in Mississippi working full time at minimum wage supporting themselves and their child on $7.25 per hour remains below the federal poverty line despite full time work.
While poverty affects people of every background, it is important to understand how disproportionate the impacts are for women and people of color in Mississippi. More than half of single mothers in Mississippi (52.8%) are in poverty despite the fact they have a 75% labor participation rate. They simply cannot earn enough to achieve financial stability. Mississippi continues to have the highest rate of women in poverty nationwide, with twice the number of black women and three times the number of black children in poverty as white women and children.
In Mississippi, data show that the job you have depends largely on your race and gender. Women in Mississippi make up roughly half of the workforce, but they make up nearly 75% of minimum wage workers. In occupations where 90% or more of employees are women, the average annual salary is half that of occupations where 90% or more are men.
On top of these wage disparities, single mothers need child care to participate in the workforce. This can cost 25% or more of a single mother’s median yearly household income. Mississippi’s Child Care Payment Program helps to offset these costs, but in 2021 it served only 30% of the 112,100 children who qualified.
These realities are important to contemplate as we near the beginning of the 2023 Mississippi Legislative Session where House and Senate Committees decide which policies to enact to meet the needs of women and children. Also, we must correct erroneous narratives about poverty, especially when fueled by the intersection of racism and sexism, to base policies on the truth about women and single mothers in Mississippi: that they work hard, earn too little, and need child care.
We know from our Employment Equity for Single Moms program, which provides child care and pathways to higher earnings, that single moms in Mississippi want to work and want to improve their lives for their families, and we can provide the tools to help them make it happen.