These jobs can become a form of contingent work, where workers have no possibility of making a livable wage, long-term job expectations, or opportunities for advancement. The living wage gap depresses the standard of living of individual families, and also harms the community as a whole. A combination of low wages and high living costs, especially for housing, can make it untenable for needed workers to live on the Cape. The effects of the affordability crunch is already evident at resorts like Aspen, Colorado, and booming technology areas like the Silicon Valley in California. The Massachusetts Project for Family Self-Sufficiency has suggested several initiatives for dealing with the living wage gap, which various Cape Cod groups, including the Cape Cod Commission and the Cape Cod Economic Development Council, are promoting.
Wages can rise by increasing productivity and earnings per customer.
Raising the minimum wage, which occurred in Massachusetts this year, plays a part. Increase benefits for workers, allowing them to continue living on the Cape and working at current wage levels. These benefits include affordable housing, child care, health care, and transportation. Various coalitions of businesses, chambers of commerce, non-profits, and public agencies have been developing initiatives to deal with them. Affordable housing, in particular, has become a core issue for workers and employers, and support is increasing for the ongoing affordable housing efforts of the Cape Cod Commission, Housing Assistance Corporation, and Lower Cape Cod Community Development Corporation.