Four Full-Time Minimum-Wage Jobs Needed to pay for basic necessities
SAN FRANCISCO--United Way's report, "Struggling to Make Ends Meet," reveals that Santa Clara County families require four full-time, minimum wage jobs -- compared to three in other Bay Area counties -- to pay for basic necessities, when measured by the California Self-Sufficiency Standard. The report indicates high school graduation continues to be a key indicator to achieving self-sufficiency. Nearly 61% of 39,477 Santa Clara County households headed by someone who did not complete high school have incomes below the Standard, compared to 10% of householders with a bachelor's degree or at least some college.
Based on the most recently available U.S. Census data from 2007, United Way's report, "Struggling to Make Ends Meet," shows that hard times preceded the recession for a significant number of Santa Clara County families. Even before the global economic crisis, having a job was not a guarantee of adequate income, as indicated by the fact that 87.2% of local households with incomes below the Standard had at least one worker. 
"Even this pre-recession data reinforces our focus on helping families achieve an income that provides for financial stability," said Carole Leigh Hutton, president and CEO, United Way Silicon Valley. While we will always offer and support programs that help feed and house families, our mission is to address the root problems that persist in creating these conditions. The access to services that 2-1-1 Santa Clara County offers, the financial stability assets like  "Our Bank on San Jose" and "Earn It! Keep It! Save It!" income tax assistance programs, and the programs offered by our partner agencies are working toward this outcome."
Other key findings from the report:
· Local families headed by single women are two and a half times more likely than two-parent households to have incomes below the Standard.

·  32.3% of Latino households in the Santa Clara County have insufficient incomes to meet their essential needs as compared to 13.5% Whites.
The Self-Sufficiency Standard, part of a state and national movement to reform the way poverty is measured and understood, measures the actual cost of living on a county-by-county basis, using the costs of housing, food and shelter, as well as the work-related costs of transportation, child care and taxes. The Standard represents a "bare-bones" budget that excludes common expenditures such as credit card and loan payments, retirement savings, emergency expenses, and assumes that all adults in the household work to support their families. In contrast to the Self-Sufficiency Standard, the Federal Poverty Level, which identifies only 6.4% of Santa Clara County residents as poor, is based on the cost of food and does not take into account wide variations in the cost of living in different counties.
Santa Clara County statistics, as well as the full United Way report, "Struggling to Make Ends Meet" is available at www.uwsv.org