Low-Wage Jobs

* HUD uses 2007 as a baseline year for most Point-in-Time data. ** 2010 was the first year that HUD had reliable estimates of Veteran homelessness at the state level. (Source: HUD Point-in-Time data, 2007, Florida Department of Children and Families, Point-in-Time Count data, 2020) Table 2. Point-in Time Counts of Homeless People in Florida and the United States

Table 3. Point in Time Counts, Homelessness by Race/Ethnicity

Low-Wage Jobs

Low-wage, low-skill jobs are prevalent in Florida’s economy and have been particularly affected by COVID-19 (discussed in Section 5). According to the United Way of Florida’s 2020 report on Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) households, the “survival wage” for a household with two adults, one infant, and one preschooler was $34.76 per hour in 2018 (the report uses 2018 data), $17.38 for two parents working full time, or $12.30 per hour for a single adult. The household Survival Wage is just enough for a bare-bones budget with no cushion for emergencies. Unfortunately, many of Florida’s common occupations do not pay enough for a family to survive, let alone thrive. As the ALICE Report shows, government assistance and private charity are not enough to fill the gap for these families 25 .

The 2018 median wage for all Florida occupations is $17.23 (up from 2017), with 59% of jobs in Florida paying a median income of less than $20 an hour. This is below the ALICE family survival wage, even with both parents working full time. Table 4 shows the ten most common of these low-paying occupations, which alone account for

Table 4. Florida's Most Common Occupations with a Median Hourly Wage under $17.38 (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics 201826)