SD6 - The Working Poor in Virginia

  • Published: 1990
  • Author: Secretary of Economic Development
  • Enabling Authority: Senate Joint Resolution 194 (Regular Session, 1989)

Executive Summary:
Authority

This report was conducted in response to Senate Joint Resolution 194 (copy attached in Appendix 1) which requested the Secretary of Economic Development to "...study the use of contingent workers and its effect on equal employment and wages and benefits." The responsibility for carrying out the study was subsequently assigned to the Virginia Employment Commission by the Secretary of Economic Development.

Intent

Virginia Employment Commission officials and staff met with the sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 194 in an attempt to specify completely the intent and objective of the Resolution. As a result of this meeting, it was determined that the intent of the sponsor of the Resolution, Senator Yvonne Miller of Norfolk, was to develop an information base and a profile of the working poor in Virginia. For the purposes of the report and at the suggestion of Senator Miller, the working poor are defined as those persons whose primary sources of income are wages from working at one or more part-time jobs and who do not receive employee benefits or receive only partial employee benefits, with special reference to health insurance benefits.

Objective

Due to data limitations, the report information base and profile are provided only on a statewide basis and deal with only the availability, not the adequacy, of health care benefits for the working poor. The objective of the report is to develop an information base and a general profile of the magnitude of the population of the working poor and the extent to which they receive employee benefits, and especially, health care coverage.

Methodology and Data Sources

This report provides an analysis and profile of the working poor in Virginia based on two primary data sources: 1) data on employment status of workers available from the most recent Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census; and, 2) data and assumptions regarding employee benefits and health insurance coverage of part-time workers from recent national studies.