Working Group: Human/Social Services
Key Issue: Parking Lot
Recommendation: Poverty - the disproportionately high rates of poverty among older Black Americans and other adults of color, and their greater need for services, is primarily caused by a lifetime of higher instances of occupational discrimination, underemployment, and lower rates of intergenerational wealth, due in part to redlining and discrimination. There are no quick fixes for the massive income and wealth disparities in our society that are engineered into the fabric of structural racism and the exploitation of labor. The only way to reduce these inequities in the next generation is to correct the current compensation structure of the workforce, while noting that many older adults are currently working in low wage jobs at well beyond “normal” retirement age. Nothing 159 short of “making work pay” will solve the moral injustice of increasing poverty and disparities in the older adult population of Monroe County, a condition largely attributable to declining wages and benefits. Therefore, both county and city governments should join and lead in all efforts to bring every job in Monroe County to a level of self-sufficient wages, comprehensive medical benefits, and retirement savings paid by the employer. One such effort is RMAPI’s employer pledge. Others include the “Fight for $15” and the drive for a voluntary living wage paid by all employers.
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