Yearlong series will chronicle 4 families
About four out of 10 U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey this year by CareerBuilder.com. Survival is even more risky for those whose pay rarely covers all their expenses. A lost job, a large medical bill or a costly car repair can send their lives crashing.
Today's stories are the first in a yearlong series about the working poor. Star-Telegram reporters will chronicle the lives of four families in monthly installments.
The families came forward after being contacted by charities, social service agencies or churches on the paper's behalf.
The definition of living in poverty varies.
To pay for basic needs, including medical insurance not provided by an employer, a family of one parent and two children needs to earn $46,710 a year in the Fort Worth-Arlington area, according to the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin.
The federal program that offers free and reduced-price school lunches to children has a lower threshold. A three-member household could have an annual income of no more than $30,710 to qualify for assistance this past school year, and a family of four, no more than $37,000.
To be classified as poor under 2006 federal guidelines, the income thresholds are even lower: $16,242 for a single parent of two children, and $20,444 for a family with two parents and two children.
In April, when the families were chosen for this series, they met the guidelines for receiving free or reduced-price school lunches.
One family is already pulling out of poverty after a single father of two got a $40,000-a-year job May 1. But he still has large debts after eight months of unemployment.
