The most recent data is best because it reflects the significant impacts of lower unemployment rates and welfare reform that have changed the demographics of lower wage earners. The Employment Policy Foundation uses the most recent data in the attached charts. The statement confuses wage earners and income recipients. It confirms that the minimum wage is a poorly focused instrument for helping poor families. The Census Bureau classifies families as sub-units of households.
Households are the appropriate economic unit for assessments of income and living standards.
A household may include several related family groups who share living arrangements and costs. This will result in the number of single earner households being lower than the number of single earner families. The reported number is inconsistent with other published tabulations of the underlying Census Bureau Current Population Survey data. Attached are five charts describing data compiled by Employment Policy Foundation from 1997 Current Population Survey data collected by the Census Bureau. The Employment Policy Foundation is a research and educational foundation whose purpose is to provide policymakers and the public with the highest quality economic analysis and commentary on U.S. employment policies affecting the competitive goals of American industry and the people it employs.