Chicago’s Low-Wage Workforce

Growing and Changing Rapidly

As a result of more job seekers seeking fewer jobs nearly one in three employed Chicagoans now work in low-wage jobs ( $12 an hour or less) earning too little to support an individual let alone a family.  According to Action Now Institute and Women Employed’s new report, “Chicago’s Growing Low-Wage Workforce: A Profile of Falling Labor Market Fortunes,” Chicago’s low-wage workforce is growing rapidly, becoming older and more educated.  The report written by Marc Doussard, Assistant Professor of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana finds finds that contrary to popular misconceptions, the majority (57.4%) of Chicago’s low-wage workers are over the age of 30, over a 1/3 (34.7%) have attended at least some college, and over 1/2(56.7%) live in households getting all of their income from low-wage jobs.

Review full report: “Chicago’s Growing Low-Wage Workforce: A Profile of Falling Labor Market Fortunes”

See Chicago Sun Times Francine Knowles exclusive first look:  Low Wage Work Force Grows 30%