Making Ends Meet 2008

February 2008

Making Ends Meet 2008 details costs in San Diego County for basic family budgets including housing, food, transportation, childcare, health coverage and other necessary expenses. It concludes that a single adult needs to earn $13.71 an hour, or $28,510 a year, just to get by without assistance. Two working parents supporting two children need to make at least $17.16 an hour each.

While the costs keep rising, the local economy is creating many low-paying jobs and the real average wages for those jobs are declining, according to the San Diego Association of Governments. The real median wage for the lowest-paying third of all jobs in the region dropped by more than $500 — to $24,547 a year — between 2000 and 2004. The California minimum wage of $8 an hour gives full-time workers only $16,640 a year.

“People working full-time should earn enough to support themselves and their families,” said CPI Research and Policy Director Murtaza Baxamusa. “As we add tourism and retail jobs in this county and lose good, middle-class jobs with health coverage, workers are left with wages that can’t cover their basic expenses.”