Statement on Fast Food, Poverty Wages: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in the Fast-Food Industry Report

Washington, DC (October 16, 2013) – Rep. Jan Schakowsky released the following statement on a recent report on low wage jobs in the fast food industry:

"The Fast Food, Poverty Wages: The Public Cost of Low-Wage Jobs in the Fast-Food Industry report provides critical information about what happens when highly-profitable corporations pay low-wages – it is not just hard-working men and women and their families who bear the burden, it is also the American taxpayers who pay.

"Low-wage fast food workers are struggling to meet their families' basic needs but they cannot do so unless they are paid living wages. I have met with many of these workers – and have heard about how difficult it is for them to put food on the table, clothes on their children's back, and pay for medical bills. They have no choice but to turn to Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program, SNAP, and other safety net programs. As a result, American taxpayers end up paying for benefits that would be not be needed if corporations paid living wages to their workers. In Illinois, the cost of public assistance for low wage workers is $368 million a year.

"But the large corporations have a clear choice – they can pay a living wage to the people who make their profits possible and they can allow their workers to join a union. They can join with those of us who believe that the men and women who work hard every day should be paid enough to provide for their families.

"This report provides the data to show – clearly and compellingly – that we all win when we raise low wages to family wage levels."

###