Flagstaff’s living wage calculated at $8.90
Figure is a no-frills estimate for a single person with no children

By Lisa Rayner
Tea Party Publisher

Do you earn at least $8.90 per hour? How about the cashier who rings up your groceries or the child care worker who looks after your child? According to my calculations, $8.90 per hour, or $17,798 per year, is the basic living wage for Flagstaff if you are a single person with no children. My calculations are based on extrapolations from a 1998 Vermont living wage study.

Current low rates of unemployment around the country, including a six-year low for Flagstaff of 4.9 percent (1999), have lulled many people into thinking that we need not worry about peoples’ economic well being. However, the low unemployment rate overlooks the fact that many jobs do not pay a living wage. Flagstaff incomes lag behind national incomes in all areas, including per capita income and median family and household income. In addition, the Center for Budget Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute rank Arizona second on a list of states with the highest degrees of income inequality.

The Flagstaff 2020 Vision Statement says that Flagstaff residents would like to see more jobs that pay higher wages. Exactly how much money does it take to live in Flagstaff? How does such a figure compare with actual wages in the Flagstaff area?

A living wage is defined as income sufficient to meet a family’s basic needs plus all applicable Federal and State taxes. Basic needs include necessary expenses like food, housing, utilities, childcare, transportation, health care and clothing. The current $5.75 per hour Federal minimum wage barely allows for a single person with no dependents to live at the federal poverty line. The Vermont Job Gap Study revealed that the minimum wage is less than half the amount needed for working families to meet their basic needs. Minimum wage buying power is 25 percent lower than it was in 1980.

The 1997 Northern Arizona Salary and Benefits Survey conducted by the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce (the most recent available figures) showed that the average annual weighted salary of a retail sales worker is $16,370. At 40 hours per week and 50 weeks of work per year, the hourly wage would be $8.19. The average salary for a general office clerk is $16,934 or $8.47 per hour. Because these figures are averages, it means that approximately half of the people in these jobs are being paid less than these amounts.

A look through Daily Sun classified job ads gives a peek at current starting wages for various positions: Peter Piper Pizza crew member — $6/hr, receptionist – $7/hr, Flagstaff Unified School District bus aides — $7.35/hr, Hozhoni Foundation Day Program — $7.50/hr, Fairfield Inn housekeeper — $8/hr, Northland Family Help Center Child Supervisor — $8.50/hr.

Making a decent living on these low wages requires that people work more than 40 hours per week — sometimes quite a bit more than 40 hours. Living wage advocates point out that no one should HAVE TO work more than 40 hours per week to earn enough to barely cover basic living expenses. Everyone deserves to have a life outside of paid work.

Several city and state living wage campaigns have made careful assessments of local costs of living in comparison to prevailing local wages, carefully sifting through utility bills, grocery bills, local housing costs and other basic expenses. My living wage calculations for Flagstaff are based on extrapolations from the 1998 Vermont Job Gap Study, with an inflation update for 1999 and 2000, and the 2000 Flagstaff cost of living index, obtained from the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association.

The Vermont Job Gap Study defines basic needs to include food, housing, childcare, transportation, health care, clothing, household and personal expenses, and insurance. The figures on which I based my calculations for Flagstaff are for Vermont urban residents. The Vermont study assumes a 40-hour work-week, 50 weeks of work per year, no income other than wages, such as child support payments, and that households will take the standard deduction for state and federal tax calculations.

The Flagstaff living wage extrapolations compare the 2000 Composite Cost of Living Index figures for Flagstaff with those for Burlington, Vermont. Flagstaff’s Composite Cost of Living Index for the first quarter of 2000 was 110.3, or 10.3 percent higher than average. Burlington, Vermont’s Composite Cost of Living is even higher than Flagstaff’s — 114.3, 14.3 percent higher than average. A $20,000 salary in Burlington has the same buying power as a $19,303 salary does in Flagstaff.

For a single person in Flagstaff, $8.90 per hour or $17,798 per year is just barely enough to make ends meet. A single parent with one child needs $14.12 per hour / $28,241 per year to make ends meet. A single parent with two children requires $16.22 per hour / $32,449 per year. Two parents, one working, with two children need the working parent to make $15.78 per hour / $31,561 per year to support themselves. Two parents, both working, must earn a combined $21.15 per hour / $42,293 per year. The average wage needed per earner for all categories is $10.58 per hour / $21,156 per year.

These figures are not necessarily the definitive calculations on what a Flagstaff living wage should be. An in-depth study is needed to refine the income needed to meet basic needs in Flagstaff plus all applicable Federal and State taxes. However, the calculations clearly show that many residents do not earn a living wage.

Living Wage Web links:

ACORN Living Wage Resource Center, 739 Eighth St. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003, Tel: 202-547-2500, Fax: 202-546-2483, www.livingwagecampaign.org.

Center for Community Change, 160 Sansome Street, 7th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94104, (415) 982-0346, Fax: (415) 956-6880, Web site: www.communitychange.org.