Report: Number of Working Poor on the Rise in CT Leading Up to the Pandemic

CONNECTICUT -- For more than a decade prior to the pandemic, a growing number of working poor families in Connecticut faced stagnating wages and a rising cost of living, according to a new report from the United Way. The latest biennial ALICE analysis — an acronym for Asset Limited, Income-Constrained and Employed households — also found that 38% of Connecticut’s nearly 1.4 million households could not afford basic needs in 2018, including 11% that lived below the federal poverty level. Connecticut’s income inequality also continued to skew along racial lines, with more Black and Hispanic households disproportionately falling into the ALICE category.