Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/tag/low-wage-workers/)
The earned income tax credit lifts around 6 million of the working poor out of poverty every year, but with the economy hammered by COVID-19, many might not get the benefit they need.
In Illinois and beyond, specific action is needed to better understand how the pandemic is impacting Asian American communities especially at risk of infection.
Neighborhood characteristics like pollution from busy roads, widespread public transit use and lack of community-based health care are putting certain communities at greater risk from COVID-19.
American workers tend to lack many basic benefits that are incredibly common in other countries, a situation the ‘Essential Worker Bill of Rights’ aims to remedy.
There’s a disconnect between how many low-wage workers are being described, and what they’re experiencing on the ground.
Black Americans were left especially vulnerable to the economic impact of COVID-19 and history shows it will take them longer to rebound.
As COVID-19 deaths spike and another month of shutdown kicks in, residents across the state are demanding more from officials.
The focus on individual behaviors, lack of health services and inadequate data reveal a public health infrastructure designed to protect wealthier and whiter communities while leaving the most vulnerable behind.
Service workers are some of the most at risk of both the coronavirus and financial woes.
Stark disparities in the impact of the crisis emerge as the state marks one month of staying at home and officials are pressed to do more to protect the most vulnerable, including essential workers and the incarcerated.