1. LOW WAGE WORK AT GETTYSBURG COLLEGE
Charles Weise
Jennifer Flores
October 26, 2017

4. The low wage problem
In 2016, the poverty level for a family of four was $24,336 – equivalent to $11.70 hourly wage for a full-time worker
Estimates of “living wage” or “basic needs wage” are higher than that
Tung et al. (2015): Survey of cost of living in eight cities  basic wage = $13-$16 for a single adult, $22-$29 for an adult + one child
“Fight for $15” movement has coalesced around $15 as standard “living wage”
Numerous proposals for $15 minimum wage
23.7% of workers earn less than poverty wage (EPI, 2017)
42.4% of workers earn less than $15/hour (Tung et al., 2015)
Cooper (2017): 29.2% would benefit directly or indirectly by increase to $15 by 2024
Differences: pop. affected in 2024, not today; includes workers earning slightly > $15

5. Who works in “low wage” jobs?
Common conception: they’re teenagers, young and single, second earners
Cooper (2017): characteristics of workers < $15 and slightly above, 2024
Gender: 55.6% women; 44.4% men
Age: 9.8% teenagers; 37.9% > 40 years old
Race: 53.5% white; 16.7% black; 22.7% Hispanic; 4.2% Asian
Family status: 28.0% parent; 10.8% single parent
Family income: 24.4% < $25k; 55.1% < $50k

6. Support staff survey
Who are the workers earning < $15 at Gettysburg College?
Survey distributed at all-campus picnic, June 2017
Follow-up in September 2017: Dining Services, Public Safety
107 total responses (35.0% of support staff employees)
Analyzed responses of 96 full-time employees
43 reported earning < $15/hour (44.8% of FT)
This is close to the actual percentage of all staff, so we think the sample is representative

7. Wage distribution (in our sample)
Median wage
All: $15.00
<$15: $12.00
>$15: $17.68
Based on data from Finance & Administration, we probably over-sampled people in $10-15 range, under-sampled those in $20+ range

8. Some demographics: Gender

9. Age

10. Education

11. Years at Gettysburg College

12. Household income

13. A profile of workers in low wage jobs at Gettysburg College
Among full-time workers earning < $15 per hour:
63% live with a spouse or partner
56% are sole income earner in household (single or spouse does not work)
28% have children under age 18 living with them
23% have adult dependents living with them
30% have a second job
23% report receiving income support (EITC, SNAP, reduced lunch, Medical assistance, daycare subsidies, rent assistance, energy assistance, subsidized mortgage, Head Start, disability insurance, Social Security)

14. A profile of sole income earners (caution: small sample (N=24)
Among full-time workers earning < $15/hour who are sole income earner:
91% earn less than $30,000 per year
21% have children under 18 living with them
38% have dependent children or adults living with them
25% have a second job
33% report receiving public assistance
On the other hand: 35% use tuition benefit for self, spouse, or children (vs. 70% of workers earning over $15/hour)

15. What determines wages for hourly employees?
Short answer: “the market”
Gettysburg “benchmarks” compensation for specific occupations using a survey of colleges and universities in this region
Compensation includes wages + benefits
Gettysburg benefits are comparatively generous
Not a Gettysburg College problem, but a market problem and national problem
Source of the problem? That’s a whole ‘nother topic
Which is not to say that Gettysburg College cannot be part of a solution…

16. References
Cooper, David, “Raising the Minimum Wage to $15 by 2024 Would Lift Wages for 41 Million American Workers,” Economic Policy Institute, 2017a.
Economic Policy Institute, State of Working America Data Library, “Poverty-Level Wages,” 2017.
Gould, Elise, The State of American Wages 2016, Economic Policy Institute, 2017.
Tung, Irene, Yannet lathrop, and Paul Sonn, “The Growing Movement for $15,” National Employment Law Project, 2015.
Thanks to Dr. and William F. Railing Fellowship for financial support, and to Support Staff Council, Sue Holz, and Rich Faloon for help with the survey.