Poverty & the Safety Net

With poverty on the rise in this continuing economic crisis, we're working for a stronger safety net for poor women and children.

Highlights

Fact Sheet | Fair Pay for Women Means an Increase in the Minimum Wage and the Tipped Minimum Wage

February 3, 2012

Each year, millions of workers are paid the minimum wage and rely on these wages to support themselves and their families.  But the federal miniumum wage hasn't increased since 2007 and the tipped minimum wage hasn't increased since 1991. Increasing the federal minimum wage and the tipped minimum is vital for women who made up about two-thirds of all workers who earned minimum wage or less in 2010. 

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Fact Sheet | The Unemployment Emergency Continues for Women and Their Families – But Emergency Unemployment Benefits Are About to Expire

January 31, 2012

Federal emergency unemployment benefits are set to expire at the beginning of 2012, unless Congress votes to extend them. With record numbers of Americans unemployed for over six months, it is absolutely critical that Congress acts to help the millions of women and men still looking for work.

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Fact Sheet | State-by-State Fact Sheets on Protecting State Unemployment Insurance

October 21, 2011

Unemployment insurance (UI) is critical for women and their families, yet some states enacted laws in 2011 to cut UI benefits – and other states’ UI programs are under particular threat in 2012. 

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Reports & Toolkits | Poverty Among Women and Families, 2000-2010: Extreme Poverty Reaches Record Level as Congress Faces Critical Choices

September 16, 2011

2010 marked the first full year of the recovery that began when the “Great Recession” officially ended in June 2009 but the latest Census Bureau data show that rates of poverty and extreme poverty rose in 2010, hitting women and families hardest. 

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More Resources

Legal Briefs & Testimony | Proposed Rulemaking, Application of the Fair Labor Standards Act to Domestic Service Rule (RIN 1232-AA05)

February 09, 2012

The National Women's Law Center submitted comments to the Department of Labor in support of a proposed rule that would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations to extend basic labor protections – minimum wage and overtime premium pay – to nearly 1.8 million low-wage home care workers.

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Fact Sheet | Fair Pay for Women Means an Increase in the Minimum Wage and the Tipped Minimum Wage

February 03, 2012

Each year, millions of workers are paid the minimum wage and rely on these wages to support themselves and their families.  But the federal miniumum wage hasn't increased since 2007 and the tipped minimum wage hasn't increased since 1991. Increasing the federal minimum wage and the tipped minimum is vital for women who made up about two-thirds of all workers who earned minimum wage or less in 2010. 

 Read more...

Fact Sheet | The Unemployment Emergency Continues for Women and Their Families – But Emergency Unemployment Benefits Are About to Expire

January 31, 2012

Federal emergency unemployment benefits are set to expire at the beginning of 2012, unless Congress votes to extend them. With record numbers of Americans unemployed for over six months, it is absolutely critical that Congress acts to help the millions of women and men still looking for work.

 Read more...

Fact Sheet | State-by-State Fact Sheets on Protecting State Unemployment Insurance

October 21, 2011

Unemployment insurance (UI) is critical for women and their families, yet some states enacted laws in 2011 to cut UI benefits – and other states’ UI programs are under particular threat in 2012. 

 Read more...

Legal Briefs & Testimony | Exemption of Child Support Enforcement Under Sequester

October 14, 2011

The National Women's Law Center’s legal memo to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) explains that child support enforcement is explicitly exempt from automatic cuts (“sequester”) under the Budget Control Act of 2011 as a program serving low-income people.

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