Poverty -- Hourly Wage

Throughout the Diocese of Albany, the hourly wage required to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair-market rent is well above the state’s minimum wage of $7.15. In the four-county Capital District – Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady -- affordable housing is just beyond the reach of a household with two adults working at minimum wage. Advocates call for raising the minimum wage and then regularly adjusting it to the rise in the cost of living.

This blog is participating in Blog Action Day, an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. The aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion: this year the issue is poverty. Between now and October 15, we will be posting about poverty in our diocese, with material provided by Catholic Charities in its report Poverty in the Diocese of Albany: A Threat to the Common Good. The report, and additional information, is available here.