© Copyright 2006 by the Wyoming Department of Employment, Research & Planning
Vol. 43 No. 8
The federal poverty guideline is the most commonly used measure of sufficiency of income for families. However, the guideline uses only the cost of food to estimate other non-food, cost-of-living expenses. In an attempt to more completely describe the income that families require to take care of their basic needs, the Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard (FESS) was developed. It defines income on the basis of family composition, location by county, and other factors such as housing, child care, and transportation. FESS tends to be higher, sometimes significantly, than the federal poverty guideline. FESS permits workers, and those assisting them, to more fully appreciate the earnings required to be self-sufficient without public or private assistance.
In the United States, the federal poverty guideline (hereafter referred to as the guideline) is the most commonly used measure of the adequacy of income for families. Prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the guideline (or some increment of it) is used to determine eligibility for programs such as Head Start, the Food Stamp Program, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Food is the only expense used for the guideline’s development. The guideline reflects only the number of people in a household, not different family compositions (e.g., one adult and an infant; two adults, an infant, and a school-aged child). With the exception of Alaska and Hawaii, the guideline is the same across the states (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004). For most families, the guideline fails to provide enough income to meet their basic needs (Pearce, 2005).
In an attempt to address the discrepancy between the guideline and what families really need to be self-sufficient, Wider Opportunities for Women developed FESS – the Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Standard – in 1996.
Defining Self-Sufficiency
What does it mean to be self-sufficient? FESS defines it as the amount of income needed for various family compositions to meet basic needs without public or private assistance. FESS takes into account housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, taxes on a net basis, and miscellaneous expenses such as shoes, paper products, nonprescription medicine, diapers, and cleaning products. These costs are then measured for different geographic locations and family compositions. FESS standards have been developed for Wyoming and 32 other states, the District of Columbia, and New York City (Wider Opportunities for Women, n.d.).
The FESS standard for Wyoming was prepared in the winter of 2005 for Governor Dave Freudenthal’s Office by Dr. Diana Pearce, who was then Director of the Women and Poverty Project at Wider Opportunities for Women. The study provides a self-sufficiency standard for every Wyoming county and the Wind River Indian Reservation.
Comparing FESS to the Federal Poverty Guideline
To understand how FESS is different from the federal poverty guideline, we compare the 2004 FESS standard for a family of four in Johnson County to the 2004 federal poverty guideline. For purposes of the example we assume that the family consists of two adults, one preschool child, and one school-aged child. The Self-Sufficiency Standard and Personal Calculator on the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services website (http://www.wyomingworkforce.org/resources/ss_index.aspx) indicates the FESS standard for the family was $30,598. The 2004 federal poverty guideline for a family of four (the guideline is defined for only the number of people in the household) was $18,850. The Table shows the elements contributing to the FESS standard in the example. While the largest expense is food, nearly $1,000 per month goes towards housing and child care, expenses not explicitly accounted for by the federal poverty guideline.
FESS and Occupations
How do we know what occupations pay wages that meet or exceed the FESS standard? As another example, consider Susan, a high school-educated single woman with an infant living in Sweetwater County. Returning to the Self Sufficiency Standard and Personal Calculator, we find that the FESS standard for this family is $11.63 per hour, or $24,561 annually. Susan has an interest in health care, in particular nursing or a related field, and would like to stay in Sweetwater County for her training. To determine what training options are available from Western Wyoming Community College (WWCC), we go to the Courses and Programs page of their website at http://www.wwcc.wy.edu/courses.htm. Selecting Academic Degree Programs then choosing Nursing, we find that WWCC offers an associate’s degree in the field. Returning to the main Courses and Programs page, we select Certificates and find that a certificate is available in Practical Nursing.
Now that we know about training availability, we turn to Research & Planning’s Estimates Delivery System at http://doe.state.wy.us/LMI/oes.htm To find occupational wage information by county, we click the link under the OES header that says “County and Regional Wages.” Wage information for potential nursing occupations where Susan lives is accessed by clicking on Sweetwater County, then clicking on Health Care Practitioner and Technical Occupations. The average hourly wage for Registered Nurses is $22.16 per hour, while the hourly wage for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses is $15.91 per hour. Clicking the arrow pointing to the right at the bottom of the occupations list, we see that Home Health Aides earn average hourly wages of $8.56 per hour, while Nursing Aides, Orderlies, and Attendants earn average hourly wages of $9.84.
Based on the comparison of the Sweetwater County FESS standard to training opportunities and wages for occupations in which Susan is interested, her best options are to acquire training towards either of two nursing degrees, an associate’s in Nursing or a certificate in Practical Nursing. The training will then permit Susan to work as a Registered Nurse or a Licensed Practical or Licensed Vocational Nurse. The wages Susan earns in any of these nursing occupations will permit her to earn adequate income that supports both herself and her infant without public or private assistance.
Conclusions
FESS allows workers – and those assisting them – to better understand what wages need to be earned for families to be self-sufficient based on family composition and location. Occupational wages can be compared against FESS as a way to guide education and training needs. Rather than the “one size fits all” approach of the federal poverty guidelines, FESS is adapted to local economic and social conditions. The more detailed standards help in understanding what it truly means to be self-sufficient.
References
Pearce, D. (2005, Winter). The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Wyoming. Retrieved July 24, 2006, from http://www.sixstrategies.org/files/WYOMING%20SSS%20O5%20%203_2_05.pdf
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2004, February 13). The 2004 HHS Poverty Guidelines. Retrieved July 24, 2006, from http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/04poverty.shtml
Wider Opportunities for Women. (n.d.). About the Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Project. Retrieved August 2, 2006, from http://www.sixstrategies.org/about/about.cfm
Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. (n.d.). Provider browse – select job titles. Wyoming Job Network. Retrieved August 30, 2006, from http://onestop.state.wy.us/appview/av101.asp
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